In this edition of our monthly e-newsletter, you’ll find updates on several Texas death penalty cases, as well as the results of the Kinder Institute’s latest Houston Area Survey, which finds that 73% of Houstonians support alternatives to the death penalty.
Author: Kristin
Kristin Houlé Cuellar is the Executive Director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP).
The case of Duane Buck has cast a national spotlight on race and the Texas death penalty for the past month, for good reason: his death sentence is the unconstitutional product of racial discrimination. He was condemned to death after his own trial attorneys inexplicably introduced testimony from a psychologist who stated that Mr. Buck was more likely to be dangerous in the future because he is Black. His case, Buck v. Stephens, is now on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Max Soffar, who spent 35 years on Texas’ death row – died of complications from liver cancer on Sunday, April 24, 2016. He was diagnosed in the fall of 2014, […]
A Brazos County judge recently deemed that Marcus Druery is incompetent to be executed due to evidence of his severe mental illness, which prevents him from understanding why he is being punished. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Druery a stay just days before his scheduled execution on August 1, 2012 and later ordered a competency hearing.
Tonight, the State of Texas is scheduled to execute Pablo Vasquez . He was convicted of killing 12-year-old David Cardenas in 1998 in Donna, Texas (Hidalgo County). Vasquez was 20 […]
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has granted a stay of execution to John Battaglia, who was scheduled to be put to death tonight for the 2001 murders of […]
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State of Texas executes Adam Ward
“I feel it.” Those were the last words of Adam Ward, who was put to death by the State of Texas last night after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his […]
*Update* The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Adam Ward’s appeal for a stay of execution based on evidence of his severe mental illness. Tonight, the State of Texas is scheduled […]