Scheduled executions: Three Black men face execution in Texas
In case you missed it: Dallas and Travis counties work to correct the mistakes of the past; new petition for Charles Don Flores
TCADP 2026 Annual Conference: Will we see you in Houston on March 7, 2026?
Texas 2026 Primary Election: Early voting begins February 17, 2026
Featured events: Bexar County District Attorney Candidate Debate on February 3; TCADP General Membership Meeting on February 19 (Zoom); Bryan Stevenson at Texas Christian University on February 23; TCADP Book Group meeting on February 25 (Zoom)
Quote of the month
“I feel that I have been tricked out of my life. There’s a lot of other people who have been convicted for crimes they committed and was turned loose. I haven’t did anything, and I’m not being turned loose.”
– Tommy Lee Walker, who was wrongfully convicted in Dallas in 1954 and executed in 1956. On January 21, 2026, the Dallas County Commissioners Court passed a resolution affirming Walker’s innocence and acknowledging the harm caused to him, his family, the family of the victim, and the community by his wrongful conviction.
Texas carried out the nation’s first execution of the year on January 28, 2026, putting Charles Thompson to death for killing Dennise Hayslip, his on-and-off girlfriend, and her friend Darren Cain in 1998 in Tomball, Texas. Thompson, who was 55, spent nearly 27 years on death row and was the 136th person convicted in Harris County to be executed since 1982.
In his final moments, Thompson apologized to the families of Hayslip and Cain and asked for their forgiveness. “There is no winners in this situation, it creates more victims and traumatizes more people 28 years later,” he said.
Texas has scheduled three more executions, which are set for dates in March, April, and May. All three are Black men who were convicted in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. We will share information about their cases and opportunities to voice your opposition to these executions soon.
Nationally, Florida and Oklahoma have scheduled executions in February. Last year, Florida executed 19 people.
In case you missed it
Dallas County Commissioners exonerate Tommy Lee Walker
On January 21, 2026, the Dallas County Commissioners Court passed a symbolic resolution exonerating Tommy Lee Walker, a young Black man who was wrongfully convicted in 1954 and executed just two years later. Walker, who was 19 years old at the time of his arrest, was convicted by an all-white jury of killing Venice Lorraine Parker under a bridge near the Love Field airport. Nine people confirmed Walker’s alibi that on the night of the murder, he was with his pregnant girlfriend, who gave birth to their son the next day. The only evidence against him was his so-called confession, which Walker said he was coerced into giving after hours of threats and promises from Dallas police. He immediately tried to recant and continued to profess his innocence.
The resolution, read to the courtroom by Commissioner John Wiley Price, declared the prosecution of Walker unjust and affirmed the court’s belief that he did not kill Parker. According to the Innocence Project, which was part of a years-long joint reinvestigation along with the Dallas County District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit and the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern University School of Law, this is the first posthumous proclamation of innocence to be made by a Commissioners Court in Texas.
Hearing set to clear the names of those accused of the 1991 Yogurt Shop murders in Austin
There’s been an important development in the case of four men accused nearly 35 years ago in the 1991 Yogurt Shop murders in Austin. Two of these men—Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen—were convicted and Springsteen was sentenced to death. Both men were 17 at the time the four teenage girls were killed. While the charges against Scott and Springsteen were dropped after their convictions were overturned in 2006, they were still on the record.
On February 19, 2026, there will be a hearing to formally clear their names. This hearing comes at the request of the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. Austin police revealed last September that new DNA and forensic evidence link the murders of Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas, Jennifer Harbison, and Sarah Harbison to a known serial killer.
Action alert: Call on the authorities in Texas to correct another mistake—the wrongful conviction of Charles Don Flores
Charles Don Flores’s wrongful conviction in Dallas County in 1999 resulted from an identification made long after the crime by a witness who had repeatedly failed to identify Flores and described seeing two perpetrators who looked nothing like him. Her identification of Flores was made for the first time mid-trial, after she had been subjected to “investigative hypnosis” and after she had been exposed, on multiple occasions, to Flores’s photo.
Testimony based on investigative hypnosis is now banned from Texas criminal trials because it is junk science. But Flores has remained on death row for over 26 years and is at serious risk of execution because no court has yet considered the evidence of his innocence.
Please sign this recently launched petition to help raise awareness about his case.
The TCADP 2026 Annual Conference: Overcoming Legacies; Reimagining Justice is just over a month away! Join us in Houston on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at the United Way Community Resource Center. Check-in opens at 9:00 AM; the program will begin at 10:00 AM and run until 4:00 PM. If you have ever wanted to meet TCADP supporters from across the state or become more involved in our campaigns, this is your chance!
Among the many inspiring people you will hear from that day are exonerees and advocates Anthony Graves and Kerry Max Cook, and Professor Corinna Barrett Lain. The conference will feature a panel discussion with local criminal justice experts and workshops on such topics as restorative justice, the families left behind by executions, legal representation in capital cases, and how to start conversations on the death penalty.
Register today! (Note: Registration rates will increase on February 16, 2026.)
We hope to see you in Houston!
The Texas 2026 Primary Election is right around the corner! Today, February 2, is the last day to register to vote. Early voting begins February 17 and runs until February 27, 2026. Election Day is Tuesday, March 3, 2026. For more information on how to prepare and vote in the primary, check out March Matters — a nonpartisan platform dedicated to increasing voter turnout in the Texas primaries.
Candidates for the Texas Legislature, the Texas Supreme Court, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (among many other offices) will be on the ballot. District Attorney (DA) candidates are on the ballot in the 2026 primaries in Tarrant, Dallas and Bexar counties, among others. We urge voters in these counties to pay close attention to the DA races, in particular.
In Bexar County, incumbent DA Joe Gonzales is not seeking re-election. In the Republican primary, Ashley Foster is running unopposed while eight candidates are running in the Democratic primary. Read about the candidates. You’ll find information about an upcoming debate among the Democratic candidates below.
In Dallas County, incumbent DA John Creuzot is seeking re-election and faces a challenge in the Democratic primary by Amber Givens. There is no Republican running in the primary.
In Tarrant County, incumbent DA Phil Sorrells is running for re-election without an opponent in the Republican primary. Tiffany Burks is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.
Additional information about what will be on the ballot is available from the Texas Tribune.
Featured events
Bexar County District Attorney Candidate Debate
District Attorney (DA) candidates are on the ballot in the 2026 Texas Primary Election in Tarrant, Dallas and Bexar counties, among others. In Bexar County, incumbent DA Joe Gonzales is not seeking re-election. In the Republican primary, Ashley Foster is running unopposed while eight candidates are running in the Democratic primary. Those eight candidates will participate in a debate on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, at the Carver Community Cultural Center (226 N Hackberry St.; San Antonio, TX 78202). The event is hosted by the San Antonio Report and Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. Doors open at 5:30 PM and tickets are free. Register here. Learn about the Bexar County DA candidates.
TCADP General Membership Meeting
TCADP’s 2026 General Membership Meeting will take place on Zoom on Thursday, February 19, 2026, from 6:30 to 7:30 PM CT. 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.
Bryan Stevenson at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth
Brite Divinity School’s Center for Theology and Justice, in collaboration with TCU’s Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, presents The 2nd Annual Dream Justice Event on Monday, February 23, 2026, at 6:00 PM in the Brown-Lupton University Union Ballroom (2901 Stadium Drive, Fort Worth, TX 76109). The Green Chair featured speaker is renowned attorney Bryan Stevenson. Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative and the author of Just Mercy. The event is free and open to the public. Register here.
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. Here are the next two reading selections:
– To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. We will meet to discuss this classic novel on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, at 7:00 PM CT on Zoom.
– Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King. We will discuss this book in early April (meeting date TBD).
Register here to receive book group announcements and meeting links. (Note: If you have signed up for previous book group meetings, you do not need to register again.)