Under the measure, defendants who have active psychotic symptoms of certain mental illnesses at the time of the crime would be ineligible for capital punishment. The bill now heads to the more conservative Senate.

Johnson was convicted in the 2007 murders of Maria Aparece and Huy Ngo in Harris County, a crime he committed at 18. He was set for execution Thursday before a court ruled that his new lawyer should have more time to look into federal appellate issues.

King and two other white men were convicted in the brutal East Texas murder of Byrd, who was black. King was the second man executed for the crime; another man is serving a life sentence.

Prisoners who volunteered for a mental health diversion program say promises of therapy and time out of their cells weren't fulfilled. And Texas prison officials aren't regularly tracking success rates — even as they ask lawmakers to fund an expansion of the program.

Citing security concerns, the state has fought for years to keep the supplier's name secret.

The court issued a stay of Thursday's execution after his lawyers argued that Robertson's original trial lawyer discriminated against potential jurors who were black.

The U.S. Supreme Court halted the execution of Patrick Murphy last week because he wasn't given access to a Buddhist chaplain. Now, no chaplains will be allowed in the death chamber.

Patrick Murphy was one of the escaped convicts sentenced to death for the murder of Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins during a robbery. The high court stopped his execution because Texas officials wouldn’t let a Buddhist chaplain into the death chamber with him.

An estimate to put air conditioning into one prison changed from more than $20 million to $4 million last year.

There are now two sets of bail reform bills named after a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper who was murdered while the suspect was out of jail on a $15,500 bond after allegedly assaulting a sheriff’s deputy.

After shrinking the population at state-run juvenile lockups, state Sen. John Whitmire wants to move the remaining youth at five facilities to one recently closed adult jail.

The requirement was included in a budget amendment approved by a House subcommittee Wednesday.

Brown was freed from nearly a decade on death row in 2015, but because he was never declared "actually innocent," he couldn't get compensation for wrongful imprisonment — until Friday.

As the state put the 70-year-old to death, his son banged on the death chamber window. After an altercation with law enforcement, Coble's son and another relative were removed from the witness room and arrested.

The chairs of two House committees signed on as joint authors of a bill that would set the method of determining if a capital murder defendant is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution.

A recent in-custody death report said an inmate died from hyperthermia in July, but Texas prison officials said he was in an air-conditioned cell.

This time, the majority of the justices said Moore has shown he is intellectually disabled.

In the wake of a midterm election that saw four major state appeals courts flip on partisan lines, Hecht called on lawmakers to consider changing Texas to a system of merit selection and retention elections.

Two years after a bail reform bill died in the Legislature, new bail legislation has other factors working in its favor.

Nearly two decades after the U.S. Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional to execute those with intellectual disabilities, Texas still has no process on determining the condition — leaving life-and-death decisions in the hands of courts with very different methods.