In this edition:
Scheduled executions: Texas schedules first execution of the year
Updates on Robert Roberson: Hearing tentatively set for the summer
TCADP 2026 Annual Conference: Join us on March 7, 2026, in Houston for a day of inspiration and advocacy
In case you missed it: Year-end reports analyze death penalty use in Texas and nationwide
Featured events: TCADP Book Group meeting this week on Zoom; local activities honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; film screenings in Austin; TCADP General Membership Meeting
Your support for TCADP in 2025: Thank you for standing with us in the relentless pursuit of justice
Quote of the month
“Even seldom and random state vengeance carried out on the poor, unlucky, marginalized and forgotten members of society does nothing to make us safer and is simply cruel and unjust. Let’s finally abolish the death penalty and get Texas out of the ineffective, expensive and immoral business of killing our citizens.”
– Stephen Reeves, Executive Director of FaithWorks, in “Texas no longer national leader in executions”, Baptist Standard, December 15, 2025
There are four executions currently scheduled in Texas between now and mid-May. These dates were set in the state’s most prolific death penalty jurisdictions: Dallas, Harris, and Tarrant counties.
On January 28, 2026, Charles Thompson is scheduled to be executed for killing Dennise Hayslip and Darren Cain in 1998 in Harris County. It is the first execution scheduled under District Attorney Sean Teare, who took office in 2025, and currently the first execution set in the United States this year.
Since 1982, 135 people convicted in Harris County have been executed; jurors there have sentenced 300 people to death. TCADP will share more details about Thompson’s case and opportunities for advocacy once we receive more information from his legal team.
Last month, 114th District Court Judge Austin Reeve Jackson met with counsel for Robert Roberson and from the Texas Attorney General’s Office to determine next steps in the case. He tentatively scheduled an evidentiary hearing for June 2026.
Robert Roberson is an innocent father with Autism who has spent more than 20 years on death row in Texas for a crime that never occurred. He faced execution in October 2024 and again on October 16, 2025, even though no court has yet reviewed the mountain of evidence proving that the tragic death of his chronically ill toddler, Nikki, in 2002 resulted from illness, medical error, and accident. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a stay on October 9, 2025, one week before Roberson was set to be put to death.
Roberson is the first person in the United States to face execution for a conviction obtained using the now widely debunked “Shaken Baby Syndrome” (SBS) hypothesis. NBC News reports that a growing number of medical experts and law enforcement officials who played a role in the convictions of parents and caregivers have changed their minds about SBS.
Judge Jackson will recommend whether Roberson’s conviction should stand or if he should receive a new trial based on the scientific and medical evidence of what caused Nikki’s death. It will be up to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to make a final decision on whether Roberson receives a new trial.
Join us in Houston on Saturday, March 7, 2026, for the TCADP 2026 Annual Conference: Overcoming Legacies; Reimagining Justice.
Here’s what we have lined up for the program:
– A keynote address by Professor Corinna Barrett Lain, whose book tour for Secrets of the Killing State visited 22 states last year and educated thousands of people about the realities of lethal injection.
– An awards luncheon honoring our 2026 Award Recipients: Josh Burns and Jacquie Benestante for their advocacy for Robert Roberson; documentary filmmakers Margaret Brown and Smriti Mundhra; death row exoneree Kerry Max Cook; and Professor Ana Otero and Paul Nugent for their dedication to the cause of ending the death penalty.
– A panel discussion with local criminal justice experts about the legacy of the use of the death penalty in Harris County.
– Workshop sessions on topics such as restorative justice, ineffective legal representation, and the families left behind by executions.
Registration opens at 9:00 AM and the program will begin at 10:00 AM and run until 4:00 PM. The conference is a wonderful opportunity to gain new advocacy skills and meet TCADP members from across the state.
More details, registration, and sponsorship opportunities here. (Note: Registration rates will increase after February 15, 2026.)
We hope to see you in Houston!
In case you missed it
Year-end reports analyze use of the death penalty in Texas and nationwide
In December, TCADP and the Death Penalty Information Center (DPI) released important reports exposing the systemic flaws that permeate the administration of capital punishment even as support for the death penalty remains historically low.
TCADP’s year-end report, Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2025: The Year in Review, documents recent trends related to use of the death penalty in Texas and the persistent problems with its application, including the high cost of capital punishment. The report includes information about death sentences, scheduled executions, and significant post-conviction rulings last year. Later this month, TCADP staff and the Lobby Corps will hand deliver a copy of the report to every legislative office in the State Capitol.
View info graphs from the report and read coverage from media outlets throughout the state.
According to DPI’s report, use of the death penalty nationwide remains extremely isolated and concentrated. The increase in last year’s execution numbers was caused by the outlier state of Florida. From 2024 to 2025, the number of executions in Florida increased from one to 19, shattering the state’s previous record of eight executions in a single year. Florida was responsible for 40 percent of executions nationwide in 2025 (19 out of 47).
New death sentences (22) remained near historic lows, however. For the first time, DPI tracked cases in which more than 50 capital juries weighed decisions between life and death sentences, finding that 56% of juries recommended a life sentence over a death sentence.
Read “The Death Penalty in 2025: Year End Report.”
Featured events
TCADP Book Group
The TCADP Book Group meets every six to eight weeks on Zoom and reads a mix of fiction, non-fiction, and memoirs. Our next selection is Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America by Elie Mystal. We will meet on Zoom to discuss this book on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, at 7:00 PM CT. Register here. (Note: If you have signed up for previous book group meetings, you do not need to register again.)
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day events
TCADP members will participate in local events honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, January 19, 2026. More details coming soon!
Film screenings in Austin
César Fierro spent four decades on Texas’s death row before his sentence was reduced in late 2019. He was paroled in 2020 during the pandemic and deported to Mexico. Throughout his ordeal, he maintained his innocence of the crime for which he was convicted in El Paso in 1980. Two documentary films by award-winning director Santiago Esteinou will bring Fierro’s extraordinary story to Austin later this month.
The first film, Los Años de Fierro (2014), will be screened at the University of Texas School of Law on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, at 6:00 PM.
The second film, La Libertad de Fierro (2024), will be shown on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, at the Austin Film Society (AFS) Cinema, followed by a panel discussion with director Santiago Esteinou, in person; César Fierro, by Zoom from Mexico City; Richard Burr, one of Fierro’s lawyers; and moderator Michelle Pitcher, who has written extensively about the death penalty for the Texas Observer. This event will take place from 7:00 to 9:30 PM.
TCADP General Membership Meeting
TCADP’s General Membership Meeting will take place on Zoom on Thursday, February 19, 2026, from 6:30 to 7:30 PM Central Time. Attendees will hear a report on TCADP’s impact in 2025 and participate in the election of new board members. We’ll then break into small groups for discussions led by TCADP Board Members. If you have questions about your membership status, email Executive Director Kristin Cuellar at kristin@tcadp.org.
Thank you for your generous support!
We are overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone who donated to TCADP in response to our 2025 year-end campaign. Together we are stopping executions and shining a light on the flaws and failures of the death penalty.
If you didn’t have a chance to donate in 2025, you can make a secure, tax-deductible gift to TCADP online or by mailing a check to TCADP; P.O. Box 82212; Austin, TX 78708.
Thank you for standing with us in the relentless pursuit of justice in Texas!