On August 26, 2011, a jury in Hidalgo County rejected the death penalty for Roberto Rojas, who was convicted of killing his mother-in-law, Amelia Rivera Flores, and three young children in […]
Category: death sentences
On Monday, Humberto Leal Garcia’s attorneys and the Mexican government jointly appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to stay Leal’s execution. Three judges on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a concurring opinion which stated that the pardons board and Governor Perry should stay Mr. Leal’s execution.
To date this year, there has been at least one resentence (Brian Edwards Davis in Harris County) and two new death sentences. On March 16, 2011, jurors in the case […]
Today, December 21, 2010, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) released its year-end report on death penalty developments nationwide. The report chronicles the drop in executions this year and the continued low number of new death sentences nationwide (and in Texas).
Today, December 13, 2010, the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP) released its annual report, Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2010: The Year in Review. TCADP releases this annual report each December in conjunction with the anniversary of the resumption of executions in Texas in 1982.
According to the report, death sentences in Texas have dropped more than 70% since 2003, reaching a historic low in 2010. Juries condemned eight new individuals to death in Texas in 2010, the lowest number of new death sentences since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Texas’ revised death penalty statute in 1976.
Categories
Court of Inquiry Ruling Postponed
On October 14, 2010, State District Judge Charlie Baird convened a court of inquiry into whether Cameron Todd Willingham was wrongfully executed and whether or not state officials committed a crime in how they handled his case prior to the execution.
July 2 marked the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision Gregg v. Georgia (1976), which upheld the newly crafted death penalty statutes of several states (including that of Texas) […]
On Friday, June 25, 2010, a Brazoria County jury rejected the death penalty for Nicholas-Michael Edwin Jean and instead sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. […]