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Texas Death Penalty Blog

Death penalty cases and legislation in Texas and elsewhere.
By "Persian Cowboy"

Post Frequency: 3.3/day

Last Entry: July 21, 2016 at 22:00:00

Timothy Cole Exonerated of 1985 Rape

Posted on February 09, 2009
Last week Judge Charlie Baird exonerated Timothy Cole of the 1985 Lubbock rape that sent him to prison. But sadly he was not present during the court hearing to celebrate his exoneration. Because he died in prison 10 years ago. This is the first posthumous exoneration in Texas...

The Eye & Tooth Project

Posted on February 08, 2009
With support from Amnesty International--Houston / Local Group #23 And performance space offered by Rude Mechs and The Off Center How can citizens lobby more effectively for abolition of the death penalty in Texas? How can we hone our ability to dialogue with multiple audiences on the injustice of capital punishment, particularly when others disagree with us? The Eye & Tooth Project is a Forum Theatre project that invites participants to explore the questions above- and other questions that arise in the process of working toward abolition...

Register for Lobby Day Against the Death Penalty

Posted on February 04, 2009
Tuesday March 24, 2009Texas State Capitol11th and CongressAustin, TexasFill out the form to register for Lobby Day!Every Texas legislative session since 2003, the anti-death penalty community in Texas has rallied at the Texas capitol to lobby legislators to end the death penalty...

About to be killed by the state of Georgia

Posted on February 04, 2009
Indie rock group State Radio has joined forces with Amnesty International to produce a short, hard-hitting animated Web video about the plight of death row inmate Troy Davis. Davis has been on death row for 18 years and has received three stays of execution, twice coming within 24 hours of his death, despite a strong claim of innocence that has never been heard in a court of law...

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Execution Watch: Live coverage of David Martinez's Execution

Posted on February 02, 2009
?Shining a Spotlight on Texas?s Badge of Shame Through Live Coverage of Executions.? EXECUTION WATCHFeb. 4, 2009, 6:00?7:00 p.m. Central TimeKPFT 90.1 FM, HD-2, HoustonINTERNET: At 6 p.m. CT go to www.executionwatch.org, click on ?Listen?*** If the execution is canceled, we?ll cancel the show...

SADP seeks nominations for the Youth Abolitionist of the Year Award

Posted on February 01, 2009
Students Against the Death Penalty is accepting nominations for the 2009 Youth Abolitionist of the Year Award. The Award is presented each year to a young person (or persons under the age of 25) with a deep commitment to fighting the death penalty and a proven ability to transform this commitment into effective action...

Dr. Glenn Larkin on Larry Swearingen

Posted on January 29, 2009
The following is a short addendum sent to me by Dr. Glenn Larkin, one of the pathologists quoted in the Larry Swearingen article I post a few days ago. A short addendum to this article:--- Larry Swearingen Even the circumstantial evidence is raunchy, as well as some of the physical evidence...

Kerry Cook and the SMU screening of "The Exonerated"

Posted on January 29, 2009
On Friday night a film screening of "The Exonerated" will precede a question and answer session from a man on which one of the movie's characters was based: Kerry Max Cook, an innocent man convicted of capital murder in 1977. After spending 22 years on death row, DNA testing exonerated him from the crime...

Statesman: U.S. Court stops execution that Texas courts wouldn't

Posted on January 27, 2009
The Austin American-Statesman has a great editorial today about the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and Gov. Rick Perry's failure and carelessness to prevent execution of a possibly innocent death-row inmate.Once again, a federal court has had to intervene to prevent Texas from executing a death row inmate whose conviction is in doubt...

Death Penalty Clinic at Berkeley Law

Posted on January 27, 2009
The Death Penalty Clinic opened its doors in August 2001. The clinic's mission is to offer a program that helps students develop outstanding legal skills and to serve clients facing capital punishment. These complex cases teach students about law, courts, and the justice system, and prepare them to enter the profession with a commitment to fundamental rights...

Chicago Tribune: Texas hires arson expert to study fatal 1991 fire for which Cameron Todd Willingham was executed

Posted on January 26, 2009
Steve Mills of the Chicago Tribune is reporting that the state of Texas is hiring a Maryland arson expert to examine the evidence in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham.In 2004, four fire experts told the Chicago Tribune that the fire that had sent Cameron Todd Willingham to Death Row and later to his execution in Texas might have been an accident rather than a crime...

Four pathologists back Swearengen's innocence claim

Posted on January 26, 2009
Chuck Lindel of Austin American-Statesman is reporting that four pathologists, including one who helped to send Swearingen to death-row, now believe that he was innocent of the 1998 murder. By Chuck LindellAMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Saturday, January 24, 2009 Four forensic pathologists agree that Larry Swearingen, set to be executed Tuesday, could not have committed the 1998 murder that sent him to death row...

Larry Swearingen gets a stay of execution

Posted on January 26, 2009
I was just informed that a federal appeals court has granted a last minute stay of execution to Larry Swearingen.

Houston Chronicle: Room for doubt

Posted on January 24, 2009
Houston Chronicle's editorial board supports a stay of execution for Larry Swearingen pending reconsideration of evidence.Larry Ray Swearingen has lived on Texas death row for eight years, convicted of the rape-murder of a Montgomery County coed in 1998...

Texas Monthly: The Science of Murder

Posted on January 24, 2009
Someone killed Melissa Trotter and dumped her body in the Sam Houston National Forest. But according to six forensic experts, that someone was not Larry Swearingen. Michael Hall of Texas Monthly reports:Innocent men in prison often have two things in common...

MARCH AND RALLY FOR YOGURT SHOP DEFENDANTS!

Posted on January 22, 2009
Another round of DNA testing and... THE DNA EXONERATES ROB SPRINGSTEEN AND MICHAEL SCOTT! It?s Time for Travis County to Drop the charges in the Yogurt Shop Case! Saturday, January 24 3 pm ? Meet at D.A.'s office, 11th and Lavaca March to City Hall 3:45 - Rally at City Hall, 1st and Lavaca...

2 Days Left to Join In Time to Help Us Help Some Death Row Families

Posted on January 21, 2009
With just five minutes of your time, you can help us win a contest that would allow us to help some families of people on death row, as well as fight the death penalty.Please help, so we can help some families of people on death row.http://www.amazee...

Campus Progress Southern Regional Conference

Posted on January 21, 2009
Atlanta, Georgia Friday, February 6, 2009 - Sunday, February 8, 2009 Campus Progress is hosting our first ever Southern Regional Conference at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia from February 6-8, 2009! In addition to our summer national conference held each year in Washington, DC, we are adding an annual regional conference for both journalists and activists...

Execution Watch Jan 22 - Frank Moore

Posted on January 21, 2009
Wednesday's show on the execution in Huntsville, Texas, of Frank Moore is still scheduled. The next day, Thursday, we will cover the second execution in as many days, that of REGINALD PERKINS. Details below. Spread the word.*** *** *** *** ***?Shining a Spotlight on Texas?s Badge of Shame Through Live Coverage of Executions...

World Court Says US Defied Order in Death Row Case

Posted on January 19, 2009
Associated Press is reporting that the International Court of Justice has ruled that the United States defied it's order last year, when Texas executed Jose Medellin, a Mexican national.The U.N.'s highest court said the U.S. is still obliged to review the cases of about 50 other Mexicans on death row because they were denied access to their consulate after they were arrested, as required by an international treaty...

Letter to Board of Pardons and Paroles regarding Frank Moore

Posted on January 18, 2009
Below is a letter sent to us by Frank Moore's wife, Danielle. She asks that interested people copy it, make your own modifications to express your own ideas in your own words and mail it or fax your letter to the Board of Pardons and Paroles.Rissie OwensPresiding Officer, Board of Pardons and ParolesExecutive Clemency Section8610 Shoal Creek BoulevardAustin, TX 78757USARe: Frank Moore (TDCJ # 999210)January 13, 2009VIA FAX: 512/467-0945Dear Rissie Owens, Board Presiding Officer, and other Board Members:I am requesting by this letter that you commute Frank Moore?s death sentence and recommend either clemency or a new trial...

Re: Texas death row inmate pulls out eye, eats it

Posted on January 16, 2009
The following is the letter to the editor by Stefanie Collins of Austin CEDP about Andre Thomas, the death row inmate who recently pulled out his remaining eye.I have corresponded with Andre Thomas, the young man on Texas? death row who recently tore out his remaining eye, for over a year...

CCA denies another appeal by Rodney Reed

Posted on January 15, 2009
Chuck Lindell of Austin-American Statesman is reporting that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has denied a request for new trial by Rodney Reed.The state?s highest criminal court today refused to grant a new trial to Rodney Reed, sentenced to death a decade ago in the Bastrop County murder and sexual assault of Stacey Stites, 19...

When local governments have to pay for wrongful convictions

Posted on January 12, 2009
Scott Cobb of TMN mentions the 2003 case where the Austin City Council settled lawsuits for more than 14 million dollars in the cases of two men wrongfully convicted of murder. According to Cobb,If Texas city councils do not start considering the broken death penalty system a matter for local governments, then more and more local taxpayers in Texas will have to foot the bill for these type of lawsuits...

AP: Death row inmate pulls out eye, eats it

Posted on January 09, 2009
Associated Press is reporting that Andre Thomas, a Texas death row inmate pulled out his only good eye and told officers he ate it. He had already pulled out his other eye in 2004 while awaiting trial in Sherman. He was ruled competent to stand trial...

Another round of DNA testing and...THE DNA EXONERATES ROB SPRINGSTEEN AND MICHAEL SCOTT!

Posted on January 05, 2009
Drop the charges in the Yogurt Shop Case! Come to a Support Action and attend the Hearing! Wednesday, January 7 at 1:00 pm Travis County Courthouse Plaza, off Lavaca between 10th and 11th. Things are heating up in the Yogurt Shop case! As many of you may know, long time CEDP member Jeannine Scott is fighting for her husband Michael Scott, who was wrongfully imprisoned for murder in this case...

New DNA results do not match Yogurt Shop murder suspects

Posted on December 31, 2008
CBS 42 is reporting that according Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott's defense attorneys, the newly tested DNA evidence proves that someone else committed the 1991 murders at This is Not a Yogurt Shop store in Austin.Evidence taken from the 1991 crime scene where the four teenage girls were murdered was tested recently using a method not available during Springsteen and Scott's trial in 2001 and 2002...

Students Against the Death Penalty receives Grant Award

Posted on December 30, 2008
Students Against the Death Penalty was just awarded a grant by Resist, Inc., a national progressive foundation located in Somerville, Massachusetts to help with organizing the 2009 Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break in Durham, North Carolina...

DMN editorial: Death penalty moratorium needed

Posted on December 30, 2008
That's the title of Dec 29 editorial by Dallas Morning News calling for a death penalty moratorium in Texas. Last year DMN changed it's century old support of the capital punishment and called for the abolition of the death penalty in Texas.The year draws to a close with Texas in its familiar No...

Seven Scheduled Executions in Texas in January

Posted on December 26, 2008
Curtis Moore January 14TDCJ Info on Curtis MooreJose Garcia Briseno Jan 15TDCJ Info on Jose Garcia BrisenoFrank Moore Jan 21TDCJ Info on Frank MooreReginald Perkins Jan 22TDCJ Info on Reginald PerkinsClemency for Reginald W. Perkins Petition More than 16,500 have signed!Facebook GroupLarry Ray Swearingen Jan 27Larry Swearingen's website Another website with information and legal documentsTDCJ Info on Larry Ray SwearingenVirgil Martinez Jan 28TDCJ Info on Virgil MartinezOrtiz Ricardo Jan 29TDCJ Info on Ortiz RicardoTo send the Governor of Texas an email denouncing these executions, go to:http://governor...

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