Angelle Marie Adams, President. Angelle is a civil litigation attorney who currently resides in Northeast Texas. Angelle received her Juris Doctor from St. Mary’s University, a Master of Education from the University of Houston, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Texas at Austin. She has been licensed to practice law in Texas since 2006 and obtained her California bar license in 2018. She is also admitted to practice in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Western District of Texas, Southern District of Texas, Northern District of Texas and Eastern District of Texas federal courts.
Angelle joined TCADP in 2008 after attending a presentation at the Texas Democratic State Convention given by the organization’s founder, Dave Atwood. Soon thereafter, she started a chapter of the organization in The Woodlands and subsequently held several leadership roles with the organization, including Secretary and President of the Board of Directors (2010 to 2016). For the past eight years, Angelle has been penpals with an inmate on Texas Death Row and regularly travels to Polunsky Unit for visits. That interaction has strengthened her understanding of the Texas criminal justice system from the perspective of an incarcerated man of color.
In her free time, Angelle enjoys practicing yoga and working in her garden. She rejoined the Board in May 2021. Her new term as President began on March 3, 2024.
Michael Wong, Vice President. Michael is a life-long Houstonian with a short stint in Waco,Texas to attend Baylor University. He graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelors in Business Administration in Management. Following graduation, Michael returned to Houston and worked in wireless sales before starting a career in insurance. He is licensed as a property and casualty insurance adjuster in Texas. After a few years as an insurance adjuster, Michael returned to school and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law with a Juris Doctor. Currently he works at an insurance defense firm pending receipt of his law license.
Michael’s interest in death penalty abolition piqued during his second year of law school when he worked as Professor Ana Otero’s assistant. She invited him to attend his first TCADP Annual Conference in 2020 where he learned about the flaws of capital punishment and the shortcomings of the American criminal justice system. During his third year of law school, Michael wrote a paper in Professor Otero’s Death Penalty Seminar where he discussed the disparity in representation the wealthy receive versus those represented by appointed attorneys in capital cases.
Michael and his wife have one son. He joined the TCADP Board of Directors in September of 2021.
Tammy Van Dunk, Treasurer. Tammy is a lead accountant specializing in insurance financial regulation at Tokio Marine HCC in Houston, Texas. She began her career in property and casualty insurance and has remained in the industry for over 31 years. Born and raised 30 miles from New York City in Colonia, New Jersey, she moved to Houston, Texas in 2012.
Tammy graduated from Essex County College in Newark, New Jersey, where she obtained an Associate of Science in Accounting. While in attendance, she was nominated and inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. Afterward, she earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. As a Rutgers scholar, Tammy held the position of Vice President of the student chapter of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA), which provides free tax return preparation services to senior citizens and other indigent local families. Tammy is a member of the TCADP Lobby Corps and joined the TCADP Board in 2020.
Monique Coleman, Secretary. Monique is a native New Orleanian and U.S. Army Veteran who relocated to Denton, Texas following Hurricane Katrina. She is also the sister of Ryan Matthews, the 115th person in the United States to be exonerated from death row. After Ryan settled in Texas, Monique decided to remain in the state to facilitate her brother’s reintegration, recognizing he would face extreme hardship, harassment and discrimination.
Ryan’s wrongful conviction catapulted Monique into the world of advocacy. Over the years, she has participated in panel discussions throughout the country. Monique has also served as an Executive Board Member with Witness to Innocence, a national organization that works to empower exonerated death row survivors to be the most powerful and effective voice in the fight to end the death penalty in the United States.
In 2014, she earned her Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice. Under the mentorship of Dr. Cecile Guin, the social worker who advocated on her brother’s behalf, Monique then earned a Master’s in Social Work from University of Texas at Arlington in 2016. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD in Family Studies at Texas Woman’s University.
During the Spring of 2020, Monique interned with the Federal Public Defender’s office assisting with mitigation efforts. She has also testified in the Louisiana state legislature and is currently advocating for increased compensation for people who were wrongfully convicted. Her doctoral research focuses on the resilience of the family unit during wrongful incarceration and the reintegration process. Her assigned committee has agreed to support her autoethnographic dissertation project outlining her experiences as the sister of a death row exoneree arrested as a juvenile.
Monique joined the TCADP Board of Directors in May 2021.
“My plan is to give back to the organizations and humanitarians who supported and served our family by providing us with a unique platform. Service to families during such a challenging time is critical to their survival and I feel honored. I am here to support the movement and families facing the same fate we once faced.”
Hany Abdel-Motaleb is a Sales Engineer in Dallas. He has degrees in Communications and Industrial Management & Technology from Northern Illinois University. Hany enjoys spending his free time outdoors with his friends, his wife, Sarah, and their rescue dog, Belly.
Hany began his pursuit for the abolition of the death penalty when he learned about Rodney Reed, a man he believes is innocent of the crime for which he has spent more than 25 years on death row. Since then, Hany has been committed to fight alongside fellow TCADP members, volunteers, and Texans to abolish the death penalty and to preserve the lives and dignity of those on death row.
Hany believes abolishing the death penalty is a crucial step towards living in a society that addresses the root causes of violent crimes; and gives us the chance to apply the principles of transformative justice in which we respect victims and their families while also offering true opportunities for healing and ultimately leading to a safer and more equitable society.
“The work TCADP and its supporters do is making a substantive and meaningful impact on our society by helping to end one of the most inhumane, irrational, and irresponsible acts our government can commit.”
Dr. Samuel Echevarría-Cruz currently serves as a Professor of Sociology at Austin Community College (ACC). Samuel is originally from Brownsville, Texas and received his Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts and PhD degrees in Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin. Before coming to ACC, he held faculty positions in Sociology at Concordia University Texas and the Ohio State University. Previous professional positions also include roles at The University of Texas Austin in Human Resources, Academic Advising and at the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). Dr. Echevarría-Cruz was also employed in the private sector as a survey statistician and statistical consultant.
Dr. Echevarria-Cruz has been a member of the TCADP Lobby Corps since 2020 and joined the TCADP Board of Directors in January 2025. Samuel approaches and invests in this work from a professional and personal trajectory of supporting marginalized communities within academia and through social justice initiatives that highlight and support systemic criminal justice reform.
Silvia Garcia is from El Paso, Texas and is currently residing in Corpus Christi. After graduation from high school, she joined the United States Navy (Reserve component) and spent 24 years serving as a Master At Arms. She joined the El Paso Police Department in 1989 and served in various units such as Community Service, Patrol, Internal Affairs, Crime Stoppers, Bike Patrol, Vice, Impact, Domestic Violence, for 20.5 years until her retirement in 2009. After she became a certified teacher, she joined the El Paso Independent School District as a Dual Credit Law Enforcement Teacher until her retirement in 2022. Silvia holds a Bachelor degree in Business Management and a Masters in Administration of Justice and Security.
Silvia serves on the TCADP Lobby Corps. Her journey with TCADP started when she attended her first conference in 2018 and then was instrumental in putting together a virtual conference during the pandemic. She joined the Board in February 2023.
Silvia is most proud of her son, who is a Master Social Worker currently working with unaccompanied minors in El Paso. Her son and her past students continue to be a very important part of her TCADP path as she involves them in the effort to eliminate the death penalty as a form of punishment.
Ali Nichols graduated from St Edward’s University with a degree in Social Work and lives in Austin, TX with her husband and rescue dog, Eliza. She currently volunteers with Meals on Wheels of Central Texas and has been matched in the Big Brother Big Sisters program for over 12 years. Ali first met Charles Don Flores after a good friend was matched through a death row pen pal program in 2016. Ali later helped the pair exchange letters while her friend travelled internationally and eventually developed her own friendship with Charles. In January 2023, she and Charles started Words That Sustain Me, a monthly book club through Charles’s social media. Working with Charles on this book club has been a true joy and she is honored to bring attention to Charles’s wrongful conviction. Ali joined the TCADP Board in February 2025.
“A line has stuck with me from the book Bringing Ben Home by Barbara Bradley Hagerty: ‘Ben Spencer’s freedom hinges almost entirely on individual people taking an interest; if he is exonerated, the credit goes to a person’s character, not to the law.’ My involvement with TCADP has challenged me to take an individual interest in this cause far beyond my friendship with Charlie. Through this community, I’ve found a space to both celebrate progress and a support network to navigate the difficulties we face together. TCADP has had a profound impact on me, and I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to continue growing and contributing as a board member.”
Mitesh Patel lives in San Antonio, Texas with his wife, Shweta, and three sons (Rishaan, Roshan, and Rushabh). He holds a BA from The University of Texas and an MHA from the University of Houston Clear Lake. He joined the TCADP Board in March 2024.
Mitesh is currently involved in Real Estate development and is the owner of the city’s first Spanish Immersion Montessori Preschool, MKU Shavano and MKU University Heights. He also has other investments in the medical supply and food service industries.
Mitesh has spent the last few years spreading awareness about how the justice system works in Texas and promoting areas of change. He began these efforts in 2018, while advocating for clemency for the man who killed his father, Hash Patel. Watch this powerful Now This News piece about Mitesh’s journey.
Stephen Reeves serves as the executive director of Fellowship Southwest. Established in 2017, Fellowship Southwest is a Christian network of churches and individuals practicing compassion, persuing justice, and building new connections. Fellowship Southwest’s work includes the creation and support of a network of ministries serving the needs of migrants on both sides of the southern border. Reeves has spent nearly twenty years serving at the intersection of faith and public policy. He is committed to educating, equipping, and encouraging Christan advocates in the public square. He has been a longtime leader in the effort to reform predatory lending practices including payday and auto title lending and an active advocate for immigration reform and the rights of asylum seekers. He is the co-author of The Mission of Advocacy: A toolkit for congregations published by Nurturing Faith in August 2020.
Stephen previously served in Atlanta, Georgia as the Director of Advocacy for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and as Director of Public Policy and Legislative Counsel for the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission (CLC), where he directed the work of the Citizenship and Public Policy office in Austin and was a registered lobbyist. He is a native of Austin, Texas, a member of the State Bar of Texas, a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, and the Texas Tech University School of Law. Before joining the CLC, he served as Staff Attorney for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC) in Washington, D.C.
Stephen has been adamantly against the death penalty since he was a college student and writes often arguing for abolition including in Baptist News Global and the Fellowship Southwest newsletter. He joined the TCADP Board in March 2024.
Cheryl Smith has enjoyed multiple professions, including public school teacher, psychotherapist, and ordained United Methodist minister. She joined the TCADP Board in March 2024 after having been an advocate and protester against the death penalty. During her service as Minister of Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in Huntsville, Texas, Rev. Smith held vigil outside the Walls Unit during every execution in Texas. TCADP presented her with an Appreciation Award in 2015 in gratitude for this witness. In retirement, she feels free to engage in more social justice endeavors than before and is pleased to have the time to pursue her interest in getting into “good trouble.” Rev. Smith lives in Greater Houston.
“My advocacy work has come from personal conviction and I would do what I do if there were not another person doing it. I have to say, however, that knowing there is a ‘village’ of people dedicated to this issue makes the work all the more easy to continue.”
Brittany Washington is a licensed social worker and mental health therapist with a Master of Clinical Social Work degree from Baylor University and a Bachelor’s of Social Work from Texas Christian University, where she specialized in community-based practice. With over 10 years of experience serving the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Brittany has worked in non-profit and healthcare settings, specializing in advocacy, social work case management, interdisciplinary practice, community education, group facilitation, and individual therapy. Her professional expertise integrates micro-level therapeutic practice with macro-level advocacy, ensuring her work remains grounded in both immediate community support and long-term systemic change.
She brings this comprehensive skillset to her justice-focused workshops, which she designs and delivers in partnership with her faith community. These workshops empower participants to engage in ethical practice and sustainable activism. Passionate about preventing burnout and compassion fatigue, Brittany emphasizes the importance of holistic care for helping professionals, advocates, and activists. Her approach creates spaces rooted in self-care and collective well-being, fostering both personal sustainability and meaningful community impact.
Grounded in a commitment to racial justice, Brittany addresses racial trauma through a holistic lens that serves diverse communities—including people of color, allies, helping professionals, and law enforcement. Her work with TCADP allows her to advocate for those disproportionately targeted by the criminal justice system while equipping individuals and families with tools for emotional resilience. Brittany joined the TCADP Board in February 2025.