Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stops an execution because of coronavirus
John Hummel’s lawyer requested a stay of execution in a unique court filing Friday, but Tarrant County officials opposed it. Full Story
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![John Hummel.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejects new death penalty trial requested under "junk science" law
Rigoberto Avila Jr. was sentenced to death in 2001 in the death of his girlfriend's 19-month-old son. In 2018, an El Paso judge recommended he get a new trial because of outdated science used at his trial. Full Story
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![Rigoberto Avila was sentenced to death in 2001.]()
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Democratic male judges may be headed for extinction in Texas. The cause? Voters
Women got more votes than men in all of the roughly 30 gender-split primary contests for high court, court of appeals and district court. Rarely was it even close. Full Story
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![Democratic candidate for Texas Supreme Court justice Gisela Triana at the Texas Justice Tour event in Cedar Park on Feb. 16, 2020]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
This judge refused to toss Rick Perry’s indictment. Now Perry is backing his opponent in Court of Criminal Appeals race.
A PAC with close ties to Perry is backing Gina Parker’s campaign to oust incumbent Judge Bert Richardson in the GOP primary. Full Story
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![Republican Gina Parker is challenging incumbent Judge Bert Richardson in the GOP primary for the Place 3 seat on the state Court of Criminal Appeals.]()
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In Democrats’ low-information judicial primaries, gender and ballot names may drive voters’ decisions
Fourteen Democrats are competing for seven seats on the Texas Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals. How do you win when no one knows your name? Full Story
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![Candidate campaign materials at the Texas Justice Tour event in Cedar Park on Feb. 16, 2020.]()
Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune -
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.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
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.]()
Credit: Jenevieve Robbins for Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
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 extradition hearing in Cripple Creek, Colorado on Jan. 26, 2001.]()
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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.]()
Credit: Jenevieve Robbins/Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
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 Hill, Brau's grandson, and Jeffrey Saunders, a convenience store clerk.]()
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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.]()
Credit: TDCJ/AbbyLivingston
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