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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

SADP seeks nominations for the Youth Abolitionist of the Year Award

Posted on August 21, 2010
Students Against the Death Penalty is accepting nominations for the 2010 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...

Three Judge All-Republican Review Panel Appointed to Hear Appeal of Public Warning Given To Sharon Keller

Posted on August 19, 2010
Mary Alice Robbins of Texas Lawyer is reporting that Sharon Keller will have her appeal heard by a three judge panel. We looked up the party affiliation of the three judges and no surprise, all three judges are Republicans. Also no surprise, but Keller's lawyer says ?They?re all fine judges...

Statement of Ron Carlson to the Ertman and Pena families

Posted on August 19, 2010
To the Ertman and Pena families:I can?t say that I know how you feel concerning the loss of your loved ones Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena. The images of those two beautiful girls will forever be in my mind as well as the horrifying act of their demise...

Execution Watch: Peter Cantu, Aug. 17

Posted on August 16, 2010
Peter Cantu By Elizabeth SteinProducer, Execution WatchTexas plans to kill Peter Cantu Tuesday by lethal injection -- the 16th execution this year in the nation's busiest death chamber. Execution Watch will provide live reports from outside the building, along with a discussion of the issues and an interview with the author of Capital Punishment on Trial, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Oshinsky...

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Speaking Out Against the Death Penalty While Honoring and Remembering Peter Cantu's Murder Victims Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pe�a

Posted on August 13, 2010
Peter Cantu is scheduled for execution in Texas Tuesday August 17. He will be the 16th person executed in Texas this year and the 224th person under Texas Governor Rick Perry. You can click here to write Governor Rick Perry to protest this execution or leave him a message at 512 463 1782...

No ruling yet on Keller appeal

Posted on August 13, 2010
Austin American-Statesman's Chuck Lindell is reporting that The Texas Supreme Court, which announces its decisions every Friday, did not rule this morning on Judge Sharon Keller?s request to have her ethics rebuke thrown out.The Supreme Court also did not rule on Keller?s request for an emergency stay extending Monday?s deadline to file a more traditional appeal challenging the July 16 ?public warning? from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct...

Saturday August 21 at 3 PM: First Organizing Meeting for the 11th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty

Posted on August 12, 2010
The first organizing meeting to prepare for the 11th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty is on Saturday August 21 at the Carver Library in Austin from 3:00-4:30 pm. Please come to the organizing meeting and help us make this year?s march as great a success as last year?s! (Pictured: Death Row Exonerees Ron Keine, Shujaa Graham and Curtis McCarty at last year's march)Everyone who wants to help organize this year?s march is welcome to attend...

URGENT ACTION APPEAL: Legal concern/Juvenile at risk of life without parole

Posted on August 11, 2010
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success ----------------------------------For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa09710.pdf Note: Please write on behalf of these persons even though you may not have received the original UA when issued on April 28, 2010...

North Carolina Racial Justic Act

Posted on August 04, 2010
The Racial Justice ActThe NC Racial Justice Act was signed into law on August 11, 2009. The Act allows defendants facing the death penalty to present evidence of racial bias, including statistics, in court. Anyone on death row who files a claim must do so by August 10...

Retrial Ends in Life for Former Death Row Inmate; Co-Defendant Greg Wright Executed in 2008 Saying "Before you is an innocent man"

Posted on August 03, 2010
According to the Dallas Morning News, a retrial has resulted in life in prison for John Adams, a person formerly on Texas death row. The co-defendant in the case, Gregory Wright, was executed in 2008. Wright professed his innocence until his death, he said in his last words that it was John Adams who actually killed the victim...

Paul Burka on the Todd Willingham Case

Posted on August 03, 2010
President Lyndon Johnson, speaking about the Vietnam War, once remarked to an aide, ?If I?ve lost Cronkite, I?ve lost America.? Paul Burka, who writes for Texas Monthly, may be no Walter Cronkite (and who is these days?), but his take on the Todd Willingham case in his column on July 27 is an indication that more and more middle of the road Texans are coming around to the realization that Texas executed an innocent person...

Mandatory death penalty unconstitutional: Kenya Court of Appeal

Posted on August 03, 2010
In a landmark decision delivered on Friday, the Court of Appeal of Kenya declared the mandatory death penalty for murder to be unconstitutional. This decision will benefit all prisoners presently under sentence of death. The ruling follows the recent decisions from Uganda and Malawi restricting the use of the death penalty in accordance with contemporary human rights standards...

14 Shocking Facts That Prove the Criminal Justice System Is Racist

Posted on July 27, 2010
The following is Prof. Bill Quingly's 14 shocking facts for AlterNet that proves our criminal justice system is racist. While these might sound shocking to some of you, it doesn't sound so shocking to those of us anti-death penalty activist who witness this racism on daily basis...

Video of Entire Hour-Plus Long Discussion of Todd Willingham Case at Texas Forensic Science Commission Meeting July 23, 2010

Posted on July 27, 2010
Below are videos shot by Texas Moratorium Network of the entire discussion on the agenda item dealing with the Todd Willingham case at the Texas Forensic Science Commission on Friday, July 23, 2010 in Houston. The discussion lasted more than an hour. It is divided into seven parts because YouTube limits videos to ten minutes...

TFSC panel must resist Bradley's efforts at sabotage

Posted on July 24, 2010
Todd Willingham's cousin (Particia Willingham Cox), and the Innocence Project's Barry Scheck have published the following op ed on Tuesday's Houston Chronicle accusing John Bradley, the Williamson County DA and Perry's appointed puppet to the Texas Forensic Science Commission of trying to halt the investigation of the science in old arson cases...

Rick Perry's Puppet John Bradley Tells CNN "New York Lawyers" are Politicizing Forensic Science Commission's Work

Posted on July 24, 2010
Our members and others are in Houston this morning to attend the meeting of the Texas Forensic Science Commission. We intend to let Rick Perry's appointed chair/puppet John Bradley know that it is Texans, not just "New York lawyers", who are concerned that our state government suffered an epic FAIL and may have executed an innocent person...

Todd Willingham's Lawyer Walter Reaves on What to Expect at Friday's Meeting of the Forensic Science Commission: They will "avoid actually doing anything"

Posted on July 23, 2010
Todd Willingham's last lawyer, Walter Reaves, has written a blog post on what he expects at Friday's meeting of the Texas Forensic Science Commission in Houston:I was going to talk about the ridiculousness about the recent memo from the Texas Forensic Science Commission...

Texas Forensic Science Commission Meeting Friday in Houston; Scheck and Todd Willingham's Cousin Say Panel Must Resist Chair's Efforts at Sabotage

Posted on July 21, 2010
The Texas Forensic Science Commission has posted its agenda for its meeting in Houston on July 23, 2010 at the Doubletree Houston Intercontinental Airport, 15747 JFK Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77032 (Map and directions). The meeting starts at 9:30 AM, but is expected to last all day and the public comment period will be at the end of the meeting...

Texas Set to Execute 462nd Person Since 1982; 223rd Under Governor Rick Perry

Posted on July 20, 2010
Today, July 20, 2010 Texas is set to execute Derrick Jackson. He would be the 462nd person executed in Texas since 1982 and the 223rd person since Rick Perry became governor. He would be the 15th person executed in Texas in 2010. Call Governor Perry and express your opposition to the death penalty 512 463-2000...

Jackson slated for death after 18 years on Row

Posted on July 18, 2010
Derrick JacksonBy Elizabeth SteinProducer, Execution WatchHUNTSVILLE, TEXAS -- A man condemned on evidence called into question by a probe of the Houston Police Department's crime lab is scheduled to be put to death Tuesday. Unless Derrick Jackson is fortunate enough to receive a stay, Execution Watch will provide coverage...

The Public Has Been Offically Warned about Sharon Keller; Read Text of the Decision Available on the Blog

Posted on July 17, 2010
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct has officially found that Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller has cast "public discredit on the judiciary or the administration of justice" and "did not accord Richard with access to open courts or the right to be heard according to law"...

Ten years of a Death Penalty Moratorium in Illinois - Governor Has No Plans to Lift it

Posted on July 17, 2010
News from Illinois:Gov. Pat Quinn would maintain Illinois? 10-year moratorium on the death penalty while his Republican opponent, state Sen. Bill Brady, would lift it, the two candidates? campaigns said this week.Their comments come at the same time as the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty released the results of a poll it commissioned showing that a majority of Illinois registered voters prefer some penalty other than death for the crime of murder...

Audio Interview with new Director of Office of Capital Writs - Brad Levenson

Posted on July 08, 2010
The Texas Tribune's Brandi Grissom has an audio interview with Brad Levenson, a deputy federal public defender in California, who will lead the first ever Texas Office of Capital Writs starting Sept. 1. His new job will require him to represent Texas death row inmates who claim their trials were botched and that they were wrongly convicted...

Throwing Mumia Abu-Jamal Under the Bus

Posted on July 06, 2010
By Dave Lindorff"I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong."--Frederick DouglassOn the evening of February 25, participants at the Fourth World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Geneva, Switzerland had assembled from all over the globe for a dramatic Voices of Victims evening...

Happy 4th of July: Death Penalty Reform Thinking During The Colonial Period

Posted on July 05, 2010
Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and founder of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, proposed the complete abolition of capital punishment. Rush's opposition to capital punishment influenced the passage of a 1794 law that abolished the death penalty in Pennsylvania except for murder in the first degree...

Texas Executed Today the 461st Person Since 1982; 222 Under Governor Rick Perry

Posted on July 02, 2010
Today, July 1, 2010 Texas executed Michael Perry. He was the 461st person executed in Texas since 1982 and the 222nd person since Rick Perry became governor. He was the 14th person executed in Texas in 2010. From the Houston Chronicle:Convicted killer Michael James Perry was executed Thursday evening for gunning down a nurse at her home north of Houston nine years ago and stealing her car...

Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man?

Posted on June 30, 2010
DNA testing is moving forward in the case of Claude Jones, who was executed in 2000 in Texas for a murder he always said he didn't commit. The Innocence Project has sought DNA testing in the case for years, and this month a Texas judge ordered the state to preserve the evidence so testing can proceed...

2010 Texas Democratic Party Platform Endorses a Moratorium on Executions; Death Row Exoneree Juan Melendez Speaks at Convention

Posted on June 30, 2010
The Texas Democratic Party held its 2010 State Convention June 25-26 in Corpus Christi and adopted a party platform that endorses a moratorium on executions. The convention was attended by more than 7,000 delegates. The party platform has supported a moratorium in every platform since 2004...

State Rep. Jessica Farrar to Speak at the Caucus Meeting of "Democrats Against the Death Penalty" at the Texas Democratic Party State Convention

Posted on June 30, 2010
State Rep. Jessica Farrar, a Democrat from Houston who filed a bill in the 2009 Texas legislative session to abolish the death penalty in Texas (HB 682), will speak at the caucus meeting of "Democrats Against the Death Penalty" at the Texas Democratic Party State Convention in Corpus Christi on Friday, June 25, 2010 in Room 225D-E at the American Bank Center...

Two days, two executions, this is Texas

Posted on June 29, 2010
Michael Perry, slated for execution July 1 By Elizabeth SteinProducer, Execution WatchTexas is scheduled this week to execute two people in as many days, solidifying its reputation as death penalty capital of the Western world. Execution Watch will broadcast during each one RADIO PROGRAM PREVIEWEXECUTION WATCHJune 30, 2010, Wed...

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