In this edition: Scheduled executions: One execution scheduled for July in Texas Anniversary of Gregg v. Georgia: 41 years later In case you missed it: Jerry Hartfield released after 35 years without a trial; Alfred Dewayne Brown sues Harris County for compensation; SCOTUS sides with Texas in Davila v. Davis Legislative update: The Texas Legislature […]
Bexar County
Texas scheduled to execute Miguel Paredes
On Tuesday, October 28, 2014, the State of Texas is scheduled to execute Miguel Paredes for the murders of Adrian Torres, Nelly Bravo, and Shawn Michael Caine in San Antonio. Paredes was 18 years old in 2000, when he and two accomplices shot the three victims, took their bodies to Frio County, and set them on […]
State of Texas Executes Ray Jasper; TDCJ Obtains New, Secret Supply of Lethal Drug
The State of Texas executed Ray Jasper last night, March 19, 2014, for the 1998 robbery and murder of recording studio owner David Alejandro in San Antonio. Jasper was 18 years old at the time of the crime. His two co-defendants, both age 19 at the time of the crime, avoided the death penalty and received […]
Scheduled Executions of Ray Jasper and Anthony Doyle Highlight Arbitrariness of the Death Penalty
Ray Jasper and Anthony Doyle, both African American, are scheduled to be executed in the next two weeks for murders they committed as 18-year-old youths. Their cases exemplify the arbitrariness of the death penalty, as the U.S. Supreme Court has banned this punishment for juvenile offenders under the age of 18. Ray Jasper is scheduled […]
State of Texas Executes Ramon Hernandez
Last night, on November 14, 2012, the State of Texas executed Ramon Hernandez for the 2001 rape and murder of Rosa Rosado in San Antonio. Another co-defendant in the case, co-defendant, Santos Minjarez, also was sentenced to death but died on death row earlier this year. Read more about the case in the San Antonio Express-News. This was the […]
Another Bexar County Jury Rejects the Death Penalty
Earlier this week, a “death-qualified” jury in Bexar County (San Antonio) rejected the death penalty for James David Morrison, who was convicted of capital murder in the deaths of Krystle Moten and her mother Laura Moten in 2009. Both women were related to Morrison’s ex-girlfriend Candice Moten, who survived the shooting but miscarried her unborn baby, who she named Angel. The […]
Bexar County Jury Rejects Death Penalty
Earlier today, August 24, 2012, a jury in Bexar County (San Antonio) rejected the death penalty for Lorenzo Thompson, who was convicted of the 2010 capital murder of Vanessa Pitts, an Air Force basic training graduate he had robbed at a gas station. According to the San Antonio Express-News (“Jurors quickly reject death penalty for […]
Two New Op-Eds Call for Abolition of Death Penalty
This week, two major Texas newspapers featured op-eds calling for the abolition of the death penalty. In the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (“‘Myth of violence’ drives capital punishment,” May 1, 2012), Reverend Bernard Kern (a new member of the TCADP Board of Directors), describes support for the death penalty as part of the “myth of redemptive […]