In this edition:
Scheduled executions: No executions set in Texas for the remainder of 2025
Updates on Robert Roberson: Wish him a happy birthday on November 10
TCADP 2026 Annual Conference: Professor Corrina Barrett Lain to keynote; registration now open
Open staff position: TCADP seeks a Harris County Field Organizer
New resource: Dead Man Walking available as a graphic novel
Featured events: Java & Justice meetup in Arlington; Just Mercy film screening and panel discussion in Fort Worth; TCADP Book Group meeting on Zoom; an evening with Bryan Stevenson in Austin; and Cities for Life
Tomorrow, November 4, 2025, is Election Day – please vote!
Quote of the month
“It’s time to move on from the death penalty, Texas. It’s antiquated, inhumane, inequitably delivered and unquestionably immoral.”
– Cameron Vickrey, “Roberson’s plight shows why Texas should abolish the death penalty,” San Antonio Express-News, October 10, 2025
Scheduled executions
Texas does not have any executions scheduled in the remaining months of 2025, but two men have already received dates in 2026: Charles Thompson (January 28) and Cedric Ricks (March 11). The counties in which these men were convicted – Harris and Tarrant – are the only jurisdictions where juries imposed new death sentences this year.
To date in 2025, 41 people have been executed nationwide by 11 states, the most in more than a decade. This includes five men in Texas. Texas has executed 596 people since 1982.
Florida alone accounts for more than one-third of the executions this year and is scheduled to execute two people in November. Oklahoma and South Carolina also have scheduled executions this month.
Tremane Wood faces execution in Oklahoma on November 13 even though he did not kill anyone. Tremane participated in a robbery during which his older brother, Zjaiton (“Jake”) Wood, killed a man named Ronnie Wipf. Jake confessed to the killing and was sentenced to life in prison, but Tremane was sentenced to death in a separate trial under Oklahoma’s felony murder rule. Learn more about the case and sign the petition in support of clemency for Tremane.
Updates on Robert Roberson
On Thursday, October 9, 2025, one week before he was set to be put to death for a crime that never occurred, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) granted a stay of execution to Robert Roberson. The CCA sent the case back to the trial court to consider whether Robert should receive relief based on the rationale set forth in the CCA’s 2024 decision in Ex Parte Roark, another Texas case involving the now discredited “Shaken Baby Syndrome” hypothesis.
It will be up to the trial court to recommend whether Robert’s conviction should stand or if he should receive a new trial based on the mountain of new scientific and medical evidence of what actually caused Nikki’s tragic death. While his case continues to play out in the courts, Robert remains on death row, where he has spent the last 22 years.
On November 10, Robert will turn 59. Join us in wishing him a happy birthday and encouraging him to keep his spirits up during the fight ahead. Submit a message for us to send to Robert here. Thank you!
TCADP 2026 Annual Conference
Registration is now open for the TCADP 2026 Annual Conference: Overcoming Legacies; Reimagining Justice. Our signature statewide event will take place in Houston, Texas at the United Way Community Resource Center from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Saturday, March 7, 2026.
We are excited to announce Corinna Barrett Lain as the keynote speaker! Lain is the S. D. Roberts & Sandra Moore Professor of Law at the University of Richmond School of Law and the author of Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection, a fascinating exposé published earlier this year.
The conference will also feature a panel discussion, an awards luncheon, and workshop sessions on a variety of topics featuring experts and voices of experience on death penalty issues. Join us for an inspiring day of advocacy!
For anyone who needs overnight accommodations that weekend, TCADP has secured a block of rooms at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites Memorial Park(7625 Katy Freeway, Houston, Texas 77024) for Friday, March 6, and Saturday, March 7, 2026, at a group rate of $144/night.
Make your reservation online or call 713-688-2800 and provide the group code “TCA” or group name “Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.” The deadline for reservations is Friday, February 20, 2026.
We look forward to sharing information about other speakers and award recipients soon!
TCADP seeks a Harris County Field Organizer
TCADP is accepting applications for a new staff position! We seek a motivated and experienced Field Organizer to advance our efforts in Harris County. The full-time position, based in the Greater Houston area, is an excellent opportunity for someone with a background in organizing, public policy, campaign work, or issue-based advocacy in Texas.
The deadline to apply is Wednesday, December 17, 2025. Read the job description, qualifications, and application instructions here.
New resource
Sister Helen Prejean’s acclaimed memoir Dead Man Walking, in which she chronicles her journey through the capital punishment system as a spiritual advisor to two men on death row in Louisiana, has been adapted as a movie, an opera, and a play. Now it’s available as a graphic novel to provide a new audience with “an accessible way to engage with one of the most complex moral and emotional issues facing our country.” Purchase a copy here.
Featured events
Java & Justice Meetup in Arlington
Join TCADP supporters in DFW for a meetup on Saturday, November 8, 2025, at Grounds & Gold in Arlington (4130 S. Bowen Rd; Arlington TX 76016). Drop by anytime between 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM to meet other local members and discuss recent death penalty developments.
Film screening and panel discussion in Fort Worth
On Sunday, November 9, 2025, the Anti-Racism Collaborative Initiative at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth will host a screening of Just Mercy, followed by a panel discussion. Just Mercy tells the story of renowned civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson and his efforts to overturn the wrongful conviction and death sentence of Walter McMillian. The movie will begin at 1:00 PM and the discussion will start around 3:30 PM.
Panelists include TCADP Board Member Monique Coleman, TCADP volunteer Shirl Solomon, Nan Tolson of Texas Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, and Ken Ramsey, Community Chaplain and Broadway Baptist member. Brittany Washington, Ministry Intern of Social Justice & Congregational Care for Broadway Baptist and TCADP Board Member, will moderate.
The event will take place in the Broadway Baptist Choir Room (305 W Broadway Ave, Fort Worth, TX 76104). All are welcome!
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 The Chamber by John Grisham. We will discuss the book on Wednesday, November 12, 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.)
An evening with Bryan Stevenson in Austin
On Monday, November 17, 2025, the Paramount Theatre and Tejemos Foundation in Austin will host Bryan Stevenson: A Conversation on Social Justice. Stevenson, a renowned civil rights attorney, is the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama and the author of Just Mercy. Purchase tickets here.
Cities for Life in Austin
Join Pax Christi Austin, the Friends Meeting of Austin, and TCADP on Sunday, November 30, 2025, at 6:00 PM at the City Hall Plaza in downtown Austin as we participate in the Cities for Life initiative. There will be a short service commemorating the victims of violent crimes and the individuals executed by the State of Texas.
“Cities for Life” is a campaign led by the Community of Sant’Egidio in support of the abolition of the death penalty all over the world. November 30th commemorates the first abolition of capital punishment, which took place in 1786 in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.