In this edition:
Scheduled executions: No executions for the next three months in Texas
In case you missed it: City of Austin agrees to pay $35 million in restitution to men wrongly implicated in the infamous Yogurt Shop murders; crime survivor and criminal justice advocate urges Supreme Court to review the case of Charles Flores
Featured events: TCADP Mid-Year Membership Meeting on June 18; TCADP Book Group meeting on June 24; webinar on the 50th anniversary of Jurek v. Texas, a landmark death penalty case, on June 30
Quote of the month
“The failures of this system will not stop with Edward Busby’s execution. They will end only when we decide it’s time to do away with the death penalty once and for all.”
– Nan Tolson, Director of Texas Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, “Texas’ 600th execution demands a reckoning on death penalty,” Austin American-Statesman, May 20, 2026
Scheduled executions
After a horrendous two-week period during which Texas put James Broadnaxand Edward Busby to death under appalling, unconstitutional circumstances, there are no executions scheduled here for the next three months. During this time, TCADP aims to create space for reflection, education, and community conversation through both online and in-person events exploring the many human, legal, and moral dimensions of the death penalty.
To date in 2026, 14 people have been executed nationwide, including four in Texas. Florida accounts for half of these executions and is scheduled to put two more people to death this month. Alabama also has scheduled an execution in June.
Texas has set four execution dates for the fall of 2026. We will share information about these cases as we learn more.
In case you missed it
The last chapter in the Yogurt Shop Murders
After decades of injustice, the City of Austin has agreed to pay $35 million in restitution to Robert Springsteen, Michael Scott, Forrest Welborn, and the family of Maurice Pierce for their wrongful prosecution in the infamous Yogurt Shop Murders of four teenage girls in 1991.
Their stories are a devastating reminder of the lasting harm caused by coercive interrogations and wrongful convictions, especially when young people are questioned without proper protections.
The fifth and final episode of the HBO docuseries The Yogurt Shop Murders, titled “The End of Wondering,” premiered last month and focuses on the breakthroughs that finally led police to the man who killed Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas, and Jennifer and Sarah Harbison. The identification of serial killer Robert Brashers resulted in the formal exonerations of the four men who had been wrongfully accused and prosecuted (one of these men, Robert Springsteen, was sentenced to death). The new episode features interviews with Forrest Welborn, the family of Maurice Pierce, and Mike Ware, the Executive Director of the Innocence Project of Texas. (Note: Earlier this year, TCADP presented Margaret Brown, the director of the acclaimed series, with a 2026 Media Award.)
Crime survivor and criminal justice advocate urges Supreme Court to review the case of Charles Flores
Charles Don Flores has spent more than 25 years on death row for a crime he did not commit. His 1999 conviction in Dallas was based on an unreliable “identification” made by a witness months after she had been “hypnotized” by law enforcement and told that she would “remember more” later.
Flores has asked the Supreme Court of the United States to review his case and address whether the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ persistent refusal to apply state laws designed to prevent the execution of innocent people violates the right to due process guaranteed by the Constitution.
In a powerful opinion piece published by the Washington Post, crime survivor and criminal justice advocate Jennifer Thompson highlights the use of the hypnotized witness and the role wrongful eyewitness identifications play in wrongful convictions. She writes, “I know firsthand how suggestive procedures can produce such errors. I also know that wrongful convictions inflict lasting harm on everyone involved.”
Want to learn more about Charles Flores?
– Watch this feature about Flores that aired recently on NBC News.
– Listen to The Unforgotten podcast, Season Five: “Riding Shotgun,” a partnership between the Texas Observer and Free Range Productions. All six episodes are available to download.
Please join us in urging the authorities in Texas to grant Charles Flores a new trial. Sign the petition!
Featured events
TCADP Mid-Year Membership Meeting
TCADP will hold a Mid-Year Membership Meeting on Zoom on Thursday, June 18, 2026, from 6:30 to 7:30 PM Central Time for all TCADP members in good standing. Attendees will hear about recent death penalty developments in Texas and about the U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty from our special guest, Laura Porter. Email Kristin at Kristin@tcadp.org if you have questions about your membership status.
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 book selection is Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection by Corinna Barrett Lain. We will discuss this book on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, at 7:00 PM CT on Zoom.
As a special guest, Professor Lain, who served as the keynote speaker at the TCADP 2026 Annual Conference, will be joining us.
You won’t want to miss out on this rich discussion, which is particularly timely in the wake of Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute Tony Carruthers on May 21, 2026. Corrections officials tried for over an hour to find a vein to inject the lethal drug before ultimately abandoning the execution.
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.)
TCADP Webinar: Marking 50 Years of Texas’s Capital Punishment Law
TCADP will hold a special webinar on Zoom on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, from 12:00 to 1:00 PM CT to mark the upcoming 50th anniversary of Jurek v. Texas, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty in Texas in 1976.
Professor Ana M. Otero, the Eugene Harrington Professor of Law at Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston, Texas, will explain the implications of the ruling, which affirmed Texas’s updated capital sentencing procedures, including the notorious “future dangerousness” language. She will also explain how Jurek emerged from the post-Furman effort to rebuild capital sentencing and how Texas’s statute has evolved over the last 50 years. Attendees will gain insight into why Jurek remains central to today’s debates about capital punishment.
This event is free and open to all. Register here to receive the Zoom meeting link.