In this edition:
Scheduled executions: Texas set to execute Blaine Milam on September 25
Seeking justice for Robert: The latest on Robert Roberson and how you can help
Remembering Linda White: Tribute to a pioneering advocate for restorative justice
TCADP 2026 Annual Conference: Accepting nominations for our Annual Awards (and save the date!)
New to watch: “The Yogurt Shop Murders” on HBO Max
Upcoming events: Coffee meetup in Fort Worth; film screening and author events in Austin; TCADP Book Group meeting
After three full months with no executions in Texas, the State is set to put Blaine Milam to death on September 25, 2025. Milam also had execution dates in 2019 and 2021 but received stays from the Texas Court of Criminal Appealsto consider evidence of his intellectual disability and discredited bite mark evidence.
Milam was convicted of killing 13-month-old Amora Carson in 2008 in Rusk County. Due to extensive news coverage of the case, his trial was moved 140 miles south to Montgomery County. A jury there sentenced Milam to death in 2010 under Texas’s law of parties, which holds everyone involved in a crime equally responsible and allows a jury to convict a person based on the conduct of another. Jessica Carson, the baby’s mother, was sentenced to life in prison. Both Milam and Carson were 18 years old at the time of Amora’s death.
We will share any actions you can take on this case when available.
To date in 2025, 30 people have been executed nationwide in 10 states. This includes four men in Texas. Florida alone accounts for more than one-third of the executions. Alabama and Florida are also set to carry out executions in September.
Utah was scheduled to execute Ralph Menzies, a man with vascular dementia, on September 5, but the Utah Supreme Court ruled that a lower court had erred by not giving Menzies a new competency hearing and it put the execution on hold.
Seeking justice for Robert
Robert Roberson is an innocent man facing execution on October 16, 2025, in Texas for a crime that never occurred. He recently filed two motions in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to try to stop his execution. If Robert’s execution is not stayed, he will be the first person executed in the United States for a conviction obtained using the now widely debunked “Shaken Baby Syndrome” (SBS) hypothesis.
Read the latest on the case from D Magazine.
No court has yet reviewed the mountain of new evidence proving that the tragic 2002 death of Robert’s chronically ill toddler, Nikki, resulted from illness, medical error, and accident, none of which was Robert’s fault.
Learn more about how SBS emerged and how it was finally exposed as junk science from this podcast.
Sign and share this action calling on the authorities in Texas to stop Robert’s execution and prevent a grave miscarriage of justice.
TCADP was deeply saddened to learn about the death of Linda L. White on July 3, 2025. Linda was one of the most courageous people we’ve ever known. She bravely turned her family’s unfathomable loss – the murder of her daughter, Cathy, and Cathy’s unborn child by two 15-year-olds in 1986 – into a deep and abiding commitment to restorative justice.
Linda served on the TCADP Board from 2006 to 2012, including a term as Vice President (read her views on the death penalty in her own words). She delivered countless speeches about her journey to audiences throughout Texas and around the country. As Linda told her story, you could hear a pin drop.
Linda also was active with the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, which posted this loving remembrance to her. Many years after Cathy’s murder, Linda and Cathy’s daughter, Ami, pursued a mediated dialogue with Gary, one of the young men responsible for Cathy’s death. Their efforts are chronicled in an extraordinary documentary, “Meeting with a Killer: One Family’s Journey,” and in this article.
Linda came to believe that true justice would be served if Gary had the opportunity to return home and serve his community rather than die behind bars. She advocated on his behalf, and Gary was ultimately released from prison on parole in 2009.
TCADP 2026 Annual Conference
TCADP is accepting nominations for our annual Courage, Appreciation, and Media Awards. With these awards, we recognize outstanding individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions towards ending the death penalty in Texas. All award recipients will be honored during the TCADP 2026 Annual Conference, which will take place in Houston, Texas on Saturday, March 7, 2026. Stay tuned for more details about this informative and inspirational day of advocacy!
The deadline for submitting award nominations is October 17, 2025. View a list of past award recipients.
In August, HBO Max released a four-part documentary series, “The Yogurt Shop Murders,” which focuses on the still-unsolved murders of four teenagers at a frozen yogurt shop in Austin, Texas in 1991. The gripping series revisits the case through interviews with police investigators, family members of the four young victims, and the two men wrongfully convicted of the murders (including one who was sentenced to death) — “examining law enforcement practices, relentless press coverage, and the lasting effects of grief.”
Java & Justice Meetup in Fort Worth
Join TCADP supporters in DFW for a meetup on Saturday, September 20, 2025, at CasaAzul Coffee (300 W Central Ave, Fort Worth, TX 76164). Drop by anytime between 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM to discuss recent death penalty developments in Tarrant County, upcoming events, and opportunities for your involvement. Contact TCADP Board Member Brittany Washington with any questions: bwashington@broadwaybc.org.
Film screening and an evening with Bryan Stevenson in Austin
The Paramount Theatre and Tejemos Foundation in Austin will host two powerful community engagement events uplifting themes of justice and civil rights this fall. First they will show the film “Just Mercy” in Austin on Thursday, September 25, 2025, at 7:30 PM (doors and pre-show music will begin at 6:30 PM). The film features the life of Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of Just Mercy, and his work on the death penalty case of Walter McMillian. The screening will take place in the State Theatre (719 Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78701). Tickets here.
On Monday, November 17, 2025, the Paramount Theatre and Tejemos Foundation will host Bryan Stevenson: A Conversation on Social Justice with the renowned civil rights lawyer. Tickets here.
Author event
Author Corinna Barrett Lain will speak with Jordan Steiker, Director of the Texas Law Capital Punishment Center at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, about her book, Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection. The event will take place on Sunday, September 28, 2025, at 4:00 PM at BookPeople (603 North Lamar Boulevard Austin, TX 78703). It is free and open to the public.
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 Angel of Death Row: My Life as a Death Penalty Defense Lawyer by Andrea Lyon. We will discuss the book on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, 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.)