Cesar Fierro spent 40 years on Texas death row. A court tossed his sentence Wednesday for faulty jury instructions.
Fierro was sentenced to death in El Paso in 1980 for the murder of a taxi driver. Full Story
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![Cesar Fierro has been on death row in Texas since 1980 for the 1979 murder of a cab driver in El Paso.]()
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Pressure is mounting to stop Rodney Reed's execution. Where does his case stand?
Dozens of lawmakers — both Republicans and Democrats — have asked Gov. Greg Abbott and the parole board to stop Reed's execution. There are also multiple appeals in the courts. Full Story
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![Rodney Reed was sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop.]()
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Optimistic Democrats are lining up to run for Texas’ high courts in 2020
The depth of the bench for non-marquee statewide races, like the state’s two high courts and the Railroad Commission, is a measure of how high Democratic hopes have soared ahead of the 2020 election. Full Story
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![Judge Amy Clark Meachum kicks off her campaign for Texas Chief Justice at Threadgillâs in Austin on Oct. 29, 2019.]()
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Bobby Moore's death sentence is changed to life in prison after lengthy court fights over intellectual disability
Moore was sentenced to death in 1980 in the fatal shooting of an elderly store clerk during a Houston robbery. Full Story
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![Bobby Moore.]()
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Texas executes Justen Hall for murder of woman in El Paso
Hall told a trial judge he needed "to be put down" in 2016. Lawyers questioned his mental health and asked an El Paso court to delay the execution until Hall's competency can be evaluated. Full Story
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![Justen Hall is scheduled to be executed on Nov. 6, 2019.]()
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Clerical concern prompts the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to halt Ruben Gutierrez's execution
Gutierrez was sentenced to death in the 1998 Brownsville killing of an elderly woman. Full Story
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![Death row inmate Ruben Gutierrez.]()
Credit: Via the Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
A trial judge recommended taking Paul Storey off death row. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said no.
The state's highest criminal court rejected the judge's finding that Storey should be resentenced to life in prison after prosecutors falsely said at trial that the murder victim's family wanted the death penalty. Full Story
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![Paul Storey.]()
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Lawyers say the Texas judge who presided over this Jewish death row inmate's trial later called him anti-Semitic slurs
Lawyers for Randy Halprin, a member of the "Texas Seven," are requesting a stay of his execution amid allegations that the judge who handled his case made racist and anti-Semitic comments during his time on the bench. Full Story
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![Randy Halprin, then 23, one of the "Texas Seven" prison escapees, is led out of the Teller County Courthouse after a extradi…]()
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Despite bipartisan support, Texas bill tackling intellectual disability in death penalty cases fails
Negotiators in the House and Senate couldn't come to an agreement on a bill addressing how Texas handles capital murder defendants who may be intellectually disabled. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executing people with intellectual disabilities amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Full Story
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![Interior of Death Chamber in Texas.]()
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Texas executes John William King in racist dragging death of James Byrd Jr.
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. Full Story
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Texas court stops execution of Mark Robertson after claims of racist jury selection
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. Full Story
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![Mark Robertson was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of Edna Brau, along with life sentences for the murder of Sean Hil…]()
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Greg Abbott tells state agencies to continue to "follow the spirit" of Texas' open meetings law
A day earlier, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals struck down a provision of the law that makes it a crime for public officials to deliberate privately in small groups. Full Story
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![Governor Greg Abbott in the Governor’s mansion. Jan. 8, 2019.]()
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Texas' highest criminal court strikes down a key provision of the Open Meetings Act
The ruling only pertains to a slice of the law, but open government advocates say the decision “removes a powerful disincentive” put in place to keep public officials from hiding public business. Full Story
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![Judges of the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals Court at the state Capitol. Jan. 11, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
After Texas' second Supreme Court loss in a death penalty case, reform bill lands key GOP support
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. Full Story
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For the second time, U.S. Supreme Court reverses death sentence decision for Texas inmate Bobby Moore
This time, the majority of the justices said Moore has shown he is intellectually disabled. Full Story
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![The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Bobby Moore, a man who has been on death row since 1980, in March 2017.]()
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Eight years on Texas' highest criminal court turned Elsa Alcala into a death penalty skeptic. How will the court change without her?
Judge Elsa Alcala ended her tenure critical of the death penalty and often pleading for policy changes from the state Legislature. Full Story
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![Judge Elsa Alcala at the swearing-in ceremony for incoming Judge Michelle Slaughter at the state Capitol on Jan. 11, 2019.]()
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Murder conviction thrown out for Steven Mark Chaney
The Court of Criminal Appeals said Steven Mark Chaney's conviction was based partly on faulty science. Full Story
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Texas sees uptick in executions, death sentences in 2018
The state put to death 13 men this year. That's more than half the total number of people executed in the entire country: 25. Still, the death row population — both here and nationwide — is at a historic low. Full Story
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![The clock nears 6 p.m. at the "Walls" unit in Huntsville, where Texas executes its prisoners, on Jan. 26, 2017.]()
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Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rules against prosecutors in Ken Paxton payment case
The court agreed in December to weigh in on an obstacle to Paxton’s long-running legal drama, a fight over more than a year’s payment for the prosecutors working on the case. Full Story
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![Ken Paxton speaks at the Texas State Rifle Association General Meeting in Round Rock on Feb. 25, 2017.]()
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In campaigns for Texas’ top courts, judicial candidates must rely on party ID
In these down-ballot, low-information races, judges' success often depends on the party leaders at the top of the ballot. Full Story
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![Judge Ravi K. Sandill smiles after he is introduced during a Meet & Greet at the Sweetwater Country Club in Sugar Land on Th…]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune
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