The State of Texas is scheduled to put TaiChin Preyor to death tonight, Thursday, July 27, 2017, for the murder of 20-year-old Jamie Tackett in 2004 in San Antonio. If it proceeds, Preyor’s execution would be the first to occur in Texas since March and the second out of Bexar County this year. Bexar County accounts for 43 executions since 1982.
Earlier this week, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Preyor’s petition for clemency or a stay of execution. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his appeal on Thursday afternoon. His current lawyers contend that Preyor received appalling legal representation during his appeals from a disbarred attorney in California and a probate and real estate lawyer who reportedly relied on Wikipedia to research Texas legal procedures.
Cornell Law School Professor John H. Blume, writes that “The courts or the Governor should allow Mr. Preyor the opportunity to be represented by legitimate attorneys – with valid law licenses – before his execution proceeds. If our system is to have integrity, we cannot allow the State to take Mr. Preyor’s life without a fair hearing, with effective legal representation, for his claims.”
In a piece in TribTalk, a publication of the Texas Tribune, author Brian D. McLaren echoes calls for a stay of execution: “We should not cut short Preyor’s path to redemption, especially in light of the extraordinary fraud that prevented his claims from being heard in the courts.”
Learn more about this case from Mother Jones.
Read our previous post on Preyor here.