DEATH PENALTY

Barbee, convicted in the 2005 murders of his pregnant ex-girlfriend and her child, was unable to straighten his arms, which caused the delay. Courts allowed Barbee’s execution despite concerns from his lawyer that his disability would make the process “torture.”

Beatty’s lawyers argued unsuccessfully that the 2003 Smith County murder didn’t qualify for the death penalty. Neither the Supreme Court nor Texas Gov. Greg Abbott intervened on Wednesday.

The convicted murderer’s lengthy history of schizophrenia and delusions is well documented, from trying to call Jesus Christ as a trial witness to believing that prison dentists put a transmitter in his tooth.

The nation’s high court heard arguments Tuesday on whether Reed can seek DNA testing of crucial evidence in the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop County.

A state district judge in El Paso said Tuesday that he’ll wait to see what federal prosecutors decide in their case before moving ahead with a state trial for the man accused of killing 23 shoppers in 2019.

Thomas’ attorneys appealed saying that some members of the jury that sentenced him had expressed racist views. In their dissent, the court’s three liberal justices wrote that Thomas’ conviction and death sentence were unconstitutional.

Earlier this year, Ramirez won a legal fight to have his pastor beside him at his execution.

DNA evidence tied Chanthakoummane to Sarah Walker’s murder at a model home in Collin County. In last-minute appeals, his attorneys argue the evidence was not conclusive.

The jury sentenced Gonzales to death after a prosecution expert testified that he posed a future danger to society. The expert now says his data was wrong.

Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez said he is ethically opposed to the death penalty, but an employee wrongfully requested the execution date against his wishes. Gonzalez sought to cancel the execution two days later.

KPRC 2 investigative reporter Robert Arnold has covered multiple executions throughout his career in journalism. Here are some recollections of his coverage, from the details of the death chamber to the strangest moment he's ever experienced watching an execution.

In this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with Jolie about the stay of execution in Lucio’s case and with Josh about property taxes in Texas.

Reed has long professed his innocence in the 1996 murder for which he faces execution. Key evidence in the case has not been tested for DNA, including the ligature used to strangle 19-year-old Stacey Stites.

Lucio learned of her reprieve in a phone call from state Rep. Jeff Leach.

Acknowledging substantive questions about Lucio’s guilt and the fairness of her conviction, the appeals court blocked her Wednesday execution so the case can be further investigated.

Buntion, 78, was sentenced to death for the 1990 murder of a Houston police officer. His Thursday execution was the first Texas has carried out this year.

The Nueces County district attorney, Mark A. Gonzalez, has moved to withdraw the death warrant for John Henry Ramirez, convicted of a 2004 robbery and murder.

Federal judges, five jurors who convicted her and a roster of family, politicians and celebrities believe there are substantive doubts about whether the death of Lucio’s 2-year-old daughter was even a murder. A prosecutor Tuesday appeared to open the door to canceling her scheduled April 27 execution.

In this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with Andrew and Jolie about Texans’ role in the confirmation hearing of Ketanji Brown Jackson and two important death penalty cases.

Despite substantive doubts surrounding the cause of her child’s death and a suspect “confession” obtained after hours of interrogation, Lucio is set to be executed next month for killing her 2-year-old daughter.

The Supreme Court ruled that the state likely violated death row inmate John Ramirez’s religious liberties when it denied his request to have his pastor lay his hands on him and pray during his upcoming execution.

Foster had been the getaway driver, not the triggerman, in a killing that first put him on death row. Former Gov. Rick Perry commuted his death sentence to life in prison in 2007.

The latest Texas execution protocols forbid spiritual advisers from praying aloud or touching prisoners as the prisoners are killed. Some members of the high court said they feared overturning the rules would lead to a flood of requests for other religious accommodations during executions.

After halting three Texas executions because of limits placed on spiritual advisers in the death chamber, the high court will hear arguments today over what religious rights the state must accord inmates as it kills them.

Doubts over Reed’s guilt in the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites have lingered for more than 20 years and gained international attention. But a judge decided against recommending a new trial.

Rick Rhoades was convicted of killing two brothers 30 years ago, the day after he'd been released from prison on parole. His attorneys argued that racial bias in jury selection denied him a fair trial.

Clinton Young was convicted in a 2001 Midland County murder in which he insists he was framed. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said he was denied the right to a fair trial and an impartial judge.

John Ramirez was scheduled to die Wednesday. His last request to the state had been to let his pastor hold on to him as he died, something the state denied. The high court wants to hear oral arguments on the matter later this year.

A civil liberties group had tried to delay Hummel's death after reporters were excluded from the state’s last execution.

An Oklahoma jury sentenced accused serial killer, William Lewis Reece, to death for the 1997 murder of Tiffany Johnston.

On Wednesday, the state executed Quintin Jones, 41, for the Tarrant County murder of his great-aunt in 1999.

Jones was sentenced to death in 2001 in Tarrant County after he fatally beat his great-aunt, 83-year-old Berthena Bryant, with a baseball bat. But two relatives say they’ve forgiven him and want his sentence commuted to life in prison.

Brandon Bernard, 40, was executed in the federal death chamber in Indiana on Thursday night, delayed hours by appeals in court. Bernard’s was the ninth federal execution of 2020, a year that saw the end of a 17-year hiatus of the federal death penalty. The federal executions were set to proceed after eight prison employees who took part in a federal execution last month tested positive for the coronavirus, according to court records. Under federal death penalty law, federal executions must be carried out in the same manner as in the states where the inmates were sentenced. The Trump administration planned to restart federal executions last year, setting five executions starting in December 2019.

It upheld his 2004 murder conviction in the killing of Laci Peterson, 27, who was eight months pregnant with their unborn son, Connor. Peterson contends his trial was flawed for multiple reasons, beginning with the unusual amount of pretrial publicity that surrounded the case.," the court said. Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager did not immediately say if she would again seek the death penalty. Peterson was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of his wife and the second-degree murder of their unborn son. He also had contended on appeal that the trial court erred in deciding whether jurors and the defense were properly allowed to test whether Petersons new boat would likely have capsized if he dumped the weighted bodies over the side.

Brittany McKinney, 28, faced a judge for the first time on Thursday, after police say she shot and killed three people Wednesday morning. FOX8 spoke with McKinney's sister and mother on Wednesday and Thursday. I shot everybody in the house,'" said Delilah Merritt, McKinney's sister. "She's like, 'My baby, my baby, I shot my baby.' Merritt tells FOX8 she thinks her sister was just overwhelmed with life and it just became too hard for her.