Matthew Johnson, who testified he did not intend to kill the elderly clerk, received the death penalty in 2013. The execution is Texas’ fourth and may be the last for 2025.
death penalty
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Criminal Justice
Texas inmate executed for murder of ex-classmate
Moises Mendoza, who was convicted in 2005 of killing a Farmersville woman, became the third inmate Texas has put to death this year.
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Criminal Justice
Stay granted for Texas death row inmate two days before scheduled execution
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals did not clarify why it halted the execution of David Wood in its order granting the stay.
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Criminal Justice
U.S. Supreme Court hears Texas death row inmate’s appeal for DNA test of evidence
Ruben Gutierrez wants to be able to sue prosecutors to compel them to test evidence that he says will prove he did not kill a Brownsville woman in 1998.
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Criminal Justice
Robert Roberson files first new appeal since his execution was delayed
The appeal includes new testimony from experts who say Roberson’s daughter died of natural causes, and cites the court’s exoneration of a man in another shaken baby syndrome case out of Dallas County.
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Criminal Justice
Texas executes inmate who killed two men in Killeen in 2004
In his final statement, Richard Tabler asked for forgiveness from his victims’ family members, some of whom reportedly witnessed his death.
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Criminal Justice
Texas executes man convicted of killing Arlington pastor in 2011
Steven Lawayne Nelson maintained that he unknowingly participated in the violent church robbery but didn’t harm anyone. His execution was the state’s first for 2025.
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Criminal Justice
Texas legislators seek more protections for death penalty defendants in wake of Trump executive order
Trump’s new directive that aims to increase death sentences clashes with some Texas lawmakers’ efforts to add guardrails to capital punishment.
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Criminal Justice
Fewer Texans sentenced to death, executed amid “evolving standards of decency”
Texas continues to lead other states on capital punishment. But the decline in new death sentences and executions reached a record low.
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Criminal Justice
Seven Texans facing federal execution given clemency, four others given state pardons
On the same day that President Joe Biden commuted the death sentences of seven Texans, Gov. Greg Abbott issued his own set of pardons.
