Texasโ highest criminal court emphatically rejects death row inmate Rodney Reedโs claim of innocence
Reed, a Black man on death row for more than 25 years, has gained international support for his claims that he did not kill 19-year-old Stacey Stites, a white woman. Another appeal over DNA testing of evidence is still pending.
Texas death row prisoners spend decades in solitary confinement. A lawsuit wants to end that โcruelโ treatment.
Men sentenced to death in Texas are held in isolation until their execution dates, with little human contact, medical care or legal help, according to a lawsuit filed to improve treatment of the condemned.
Judge orders Texas to stop using expired lethal injection drugs, throwing Tuesdayโs execution of Robert Fratta in doubt
Fratta was convicted in the 1994 murder-for-hire of his wife. Lawyers are challenging Texasโ routine of extending the expiration dates of its lethal drugs, a practice begun when many pharmacies began refusing to provide doses for executions.
Texasโ execution of Stephen Barbee was prolonged while officials searched for a vein
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 Barbeeโs execution despite concerns from his lawyer that his disability would make the process โtorture.โ
U.S. Supreme Court rejects request to review Texas death row inmate Andre Thomasโ case
Thomasโ attorneys appealed saying that some members of the jury that sentenced him had expressed racist views. In their dissent, the courtโs three liberal justices wrote that Thomasโ conviction and death sentence were unconstitutional.
Texas judge wonโt let prosecutor cancel scheduled execution of John Ramirez
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.
U.S. Supreme Court tells Texas to let a condemned manโs pastor touch him and pray aloud during execution
The Supreme Court ruled that the state likely violated death row inmate John Ramirezโs religious liberties when it denied his request to have his pastor lay his hands on him and pray during his upcoming execution.
As Texas prepares to execute Quintin Jones for murdering his great-aunt, his relatives hope for last-minute reprieve
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 theyโve forgiven him and want his sentence commuted to life in prison.