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 executes Arthur Brown Jr. for Houston slayings despite claims of innocence, intellectual disability
Brownโs appeals ran out after almost 30 years on death row. Defense attorneys claim Harris County prosecutors hid evidence pointing to another suspect in the 1992 shooting deaths of four people in a Houston drug house.
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.
โIโm kind of ready to goโ: Former Missouri City safety officer accused of hiring men to kill wife speaks out ahead of execution
Texas death row prisoner Robert โBobโ Fratta spoke out in an interview with a member of the organization Death Penalty Action ahead of his scheduled execution Tuesday.
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
Texas may delay trial for alleged Walmart shooter if federal prosecutors want to seek death penalty
A state district judge in El Paso said Tuesday that heโll 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.
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.
๐Texas executions: KPRC 2โฒs Robert Arnold shares details of the death chamber, stories from his extensive coverage of stateโs harshest penalty
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.
Facing harsh criticism in the Melissa Lucio case, Texas prosecutor may temporarily spare the woman many believe is innocent
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 Lucioโs 2-year-old daughter was even a murder. A prosecutor Tuesday appeared to open the door to canceling her scheduled April 27 execution.
More than half of the Texas House wants to stop the execution of Melissa Lucio, convicted of killing her toddler
Despite substantive doubts surrounding the cause of her childโs death and a suspect โconfessionโ obtained after hours of interrogation, Lucio is set to be executed next month for killing her 2-year-old daughter.
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.
U.S. Supreme Court justices appear reluctant to loosen restrictions on religious advisers during Texas executions
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.
Texas court tosses out conviction, death sentence after discovering a prosecutor also worked for the judge
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.
For third time in recent years, U.S. Supreme Court halts a Texas execution over rules for religious advisers in the death chamber
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.
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.
In rush of federal executions, Brandon Bernard was executed for Texas murder. Alfred Bourgeois is set to die Friday.
Brandon Bernard, 40, was executed in the federal death chamber in Indiana on Thursday night, delayed hours by appeals in court. Bernardโs 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.
California high court rejects Scott Peterson's death penalty
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.
โI killed everybody โฆ I shot my babyโ: Sister of woman accused of triple homicide recounts heart-wrenching phone call
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.