On December 19, 2011, during a pre-trial hearing in the Dallas County capital murder case of Roderick Harris, state District Judge Teresa Hawthorne ruled that Texas’ death penalty statute is unconstitutional, leading to death sentences that are arbitrarily and capriciously sought. According to a summary of the court’s findings, Judge Hawthorne provided the following reasons [...]
“Whatever the reason for the decline in the number of executions in Texas, it is welcome news,” according to the Austin American-Statesman Editorial Board. In an editorial published today, December 20, 2011, “Texas juries choosing life without parole,” the Board cites the decline in executions and death sentences as reported by TCADP last week. The [...]
Today, December 15, 2011, the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP) released its annual report, Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2011: The Year in Review. According to the report, executions in Texas dropped to the lowest number since 1996 and death sentences remained at a historic low level this year.
According to an investigation by the Houston Chronicle, 12 of the last 13 defendants sentenced to death in Harris County have been African American. The 13th death sentence was handed down last month (October 2011) to Jaime Cole, who is Hispanic. In her article “Harris death penalties show racial pattern” (November 14, 2011), reporter Lise [...]
More than 60 prominent civil rights leaders, faith leaders, elected officials, and former presidents of the American Bar Association are calling upon Harris County District Attorney Patricia Lykos to provide remedy in the case of Duane Buck, who was scheduled to be executed by the State of Texas on September 15, 2011. Read the [...]
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