In this edition:
Scheduled executions: No executions this summer in Texas
Case updates: Supreme Court declines to review the Texas death penalty cases of Charles Flores and Victor Saldaño; Clarence Jordan removed from death row after 47 years
Organizational announcement: Introducing TCADP Justice Fellow Scott Hackler
Upcoming events: Java & Justice meetup in Dallas on July 12; Austin luncheon on July 22; book tour by Pamela Colloff starting July 13; TCADP book group meeting on August 5
Advocacy in action: Three ways to make a difference this month
Reflecting on 50 years of the Texas death penalty: Help TCADP write the future of justice
Quote of the month
“…it is today impossible to make the case that the death penalty is a deterrent. I no longer believe the death penalty is a deterrent to murder. The moral justification I had for voting for the death penalty simply no longer exists.”
– Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who on June 16, 2026, called on his state to abolish the death penalty.
Read Governor DeWine’s full remarks.
Texas has not scheduled any executions in July and August but has set four execution dates for the fall of 2026. We will share information about these cases as we learn more.
To date in 2026, 16 people have been executed nationwide, including four in Texas. Florida accounts for nine executions and is scheduled to execute two more people in July, including 80-year-old Dominick Anthony Occhicone.
Clarence Jordan resentenced to life in prison nearly 50 years after his conviction
After nearly 48 years on death row, including decades without legal representation, Clarence Jordan was resentenced to life with the possibility of parole in June. A Harris County judge also recommended that he be considered for compassionate release through the Medically Recommended Intensive Supervision program.
Jordan, now 70, lives with severe intellectual disabilities, schizophrenia, and profound physical impairments. In 1988, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) found him incompetent for execution, yet he remained under a death sentence for decades afterward. In April 2026, the Texas CCA finally overturned Jordan’s death sentence after determining the jury in his trial was not able to fully consider mitigating evidence related to his mental illness. After reviewing the full record of Jordan’s case, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office opted not to pursue another death sentence.
Supreme Court declines to consider due process claim in Charles Flores case
Last month, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to consider the petition of Charles Don Flores, who has spent more than 25 years on death row in Texas for a crime he did not commit. His conviction was tainted by hypnotically influenced eyewitness testimony—testimony that is now prohibited by state law.
Flores had asked the Justices to compel the Texas Court or Criminal Appeals to provide him with a meaningful opportunity to present the evidence of his innocence. Legendary performers Penn & Teller, the American Psychological Association, and crime survivor and advocate Jennifer Thompson, among others, had urged the Supreme Court to review the case.
In response to the cert denial, Gretchen Sween, an attorney for Charles Flores, stated:
“For too long, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has imposed arbitrary, unexplained barriers, denying death-sentenced prisoners with credible innocence claims, like Charles Flores, a chance to even get inside a courthouse to present their evidence of innocence before being executed. The new science around memory tells us that the initial tests of an eyewitness’s memory are the only reliable ones – not the tainted testimony of a witness who has been hypnotized and makes an identification 13 months after a crime as occurred in this case. Mr. Flores’s conviction rests on the kind of testimony that is now barred from use in Texas courtrooms. We will continue to pursue every available means to prove Mr. Flores’s innocence. All he wants is a fair trial untainted by patently unreliable testimony and official misconduct.
See below for how you can help Charles Flores.
Supreme Court again declines to review a Texas death penalty case involving evidence of intellectual disability
On June 22, 2026, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to review the case of Victor Saldaño, who has been on death row in Texas since 1996. Saldaño wants a trial court to consider evidence that his intellectual disability renders him ineligible to be executed. Prosecutors in Collin County, where he was convicted, agree that Saldaño has made a prima facie showing that he is intellectually disabled, which warrants litigation on the merits, and they supported his petition to the Supreme Court. Every expert who has evaluated him has concluded he is intellectually disabled. And yet the Texas CCA ruled Saldaño did not present sufficient evidence and a majority of Justices on the Supreme Court declined to get involved in the case.
Justice Sotomayor issued a strong dissent, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, in which she writes, “The Court’s refusal to allow that merits determination to proceed not only does a profound disservice to Saldaño, who now might be executed without any court ever determining whether he is, in fact, intellectually disabled. It also severely undermines the State’s interest in ensuring the legitimacy of its criminal system.”
The Texas CCA and U.S. Supreme Court similarly denied relief to Edward Busby despite unanimous expert findings—and even the State’s own position—that he was intellectually disabled and ineligible for execution. Texas unconstitutionally executed Busby on May 14, 2026.
TCADP is pleased to welcome Rev. Scott Hackler to our team as our new Justice Fellow! Scott is a pastor in the United Methodist Church, a student at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University, and the founder of food manufacturer Halo del Santo. He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University (MBA) and Louisiana State University (B.A., French and B.S., Economics). Scott is a member of the Rotary Club of Fort Worth and serves on the Community Advisory Board of the North Texas Primary Care Practice-Based Research Network at UNT Health Fort Worth. Over the next year with TCADP, Scott will focus on outreach to faith leaders and faith communities, particularly in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Contact him at scott.hackler@tcu.edu.
Upcoming events
Justice & Java: A gathering for TCADP supporters in Dallas County
TCADP supporters in Dallas County will meet on Sunday, July 12, 2026, from 1:00 to 3:00 PM at Union Coffee (3705 Cedar Springs Rd, Dallas, TX 75219) to talk about the latest developments in capital punishment. Stop by anytime!
Book tour events with journalist and author Pamela Colloff
Starting July 13, Pamela Colloff, an award-winning reporter at ProPublica and staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, will be on tour to discuss her first book, Catch the Devil. Drawing on her decades of reporting on the criminal justice system, Pamela tells the true story of an audacious con artist who helped send another man to death row for a murder he did not commit.
Pamela will visit Austin on July 13, Dallas on July 15, and Houston on July 16, with stops in other American cities this summer. See tour details.
For the Houston stop of the book tour on Thursday, July 16th, please join our Harris County Field Organizer Timberly Vogel beforehand for a TCADP Happy Hour from 4:30 to 6:30 PM at Under the Volcano (2349 Bissonnet St, Houston, TX 77005, directly across the street from the bookstore). Email her at Timberly@tcadp.org with any questions.
TCADP summer lunch series in Austin
TCADP’s summer lunch series for supporters in the Austin area is back! These gatherings take place at the TCADP office in North Austin and feature a special guest speaker. Our first luncheon is scheduled for Wednesday, July 22, 2026, when we will hear from a local member about her family’s experience with the criminal legal system in California after the murder of a loved one.
Join us from 12:00 to 1:00 PM for an hour of education and connection. Lunch will be provided; pre-registration is required. Directions to the office and parking info will be emailed directly to registrants.
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 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, recommended by our friend Charles Flores, who is an avid reader. We will discuss this book on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, at 7:00 PM CT on Zoom.
Register here to receive book group announcements and meeting links. (Note: If you have signed up for any previous book group meetings, you do not need to register again.)
Here are three petitions you can sign to advance justice in Texas and beyond:
1. Join us in urging the authorities in Texas to grant Charles Flores a new trial.
2. Thank Governor DeWine for his leadership and encourage him to go even further by using his powers of executive clemency for those on death row in Ohio.
3. Urge the Governor of Tennessee to stop the execution of Darrell Hines on August 13 so concerns about Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol can be addressed.
Reflecting on 50 years of the Texas death penalty
Fifty years ago, in Jurek v. Texas (July 2, 1976), the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Texas to resume the application of the death penalty under a revised statute. That decision marked the beginning of a new era in Texas criminal legal history–one that has resulted in more than 1,100 death sentences and 600 executions. These statistics reflect not only individual cases, but a system that has defined Texas’s approach to punishment and justice for generations.
And yet, as we mark this milestone, we find ourselves in a very different moment than the one that followed Jurek. The use of the death penalty in Texas has declined significantly. Public opinion has shifted. Jurors are more cautious. Prosecutors and lawmakers across the political spectrum are re-examining its application. What once felt fixed in place is now increasingly being questioned.
These changes did not happen on their own.
For decades, TCADP members and partners across the state have worked to educate communities, support impacted individuals, elevate concerns about wrongful convictions and racial disparities, and advocate for a more just and humane system. Together, by refusing to accept that the future must look like the past, we have helped shift the conversation in Texas.
That work has only been possible because of committed people like you.
This summer, TCADP seeks 50 new donors who will stand with us to say 50 years is enough. It is time to end this failed experiment. It is time to write a different future–one where justice is no longer measured by executions. Please join us with a donation today.
Thank you for standing with us in the relentless pursuit of justice in Texas!