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The Decline of Death Sentences in Texas

By Steve Hall

"Harris County loses state lead in executions," is the title of Lise Olsen's December 28 report for the Houston Chronicle.Long the state's leader in sending convicts to death row, Harris County has fallen behind both Bexar and Tarrant counties in the number of death sentences it imposes, an analysis of eight years of records shows.Texas' final death sentence of the year came eight days before Christmas for inmate Jerry Martin, condemned for slaying a 59-year-old female prison guard by ramming her horse during an escape attempt in Walker County.Martin's case brought Texas' total to a historic low of nine new death sentences in 2009 ? including cases scattered around the state but none from Harris County.Since a new life-without-parole law took effect in 2005, Harris County ? with a national reputation for pursuing capital punishment and home to the fourth-largest city in America, with a population of nearly 4 million people ? has sent fewer inmates to death row than Tarrant or Bexar counties, urban counties that include Fort Worth and San Antonio, respectively...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on January 04, 2010 (boomark / email).