On November 8, 2016, voters did more than just elect a new president. They voted for district attorneys, sheriffs, criminal justice reform legislation, and, in three states, the death penalty. […]
Tag: Harris County
Today, Harvard Law School’s Fair Punishment Project released Part II of its report, Too Broken to Fix: An In-depth Look at America’s Outlier Death Penalty Counties, which provides an in-depth look at how the death penalty is operating in the handful of counties across the country that are still using it, including Dallas County, Texas.
In this edition: Scheduled executions: Three executions stopped last month by Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Announcements: Seeking Lobby Corps members and Annual Award nominations In case you missed it: […]
A new report from the Fair Punishment Project at Harvard Law School offers an in-depth look at how the death penalty is operating in the small handful of counties across […]
On Wednesday, July 6, a Texas state district judge withdrew the execution order for Perry Eugene Williams, who was scheduled to be put to death Thursday, July 14 for the 2000 […]
In this edition of our monthly newsletter, you’ll find observations on the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision Gregg v. Georgia, as well as a recap of important death penalty developments in the last month. You’ll also find information about scheduled executions and a new report on America’s deadliest prosecutors.
A new report from Harvard Law School’s Fair Punishment Project identifies America’s five deadliest head prosecutors out of the thousands that have held that office in the last 40 years. It specifically names Johnny Holmes, who served as the District Attorney of Harris County, Texas from 1979 to 2000; during his tenure, his office secured at least 200 death sentences. Since 2008, by contrast, Harris County juries have sent an average of one person to death row each year.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear two Texas death penalty cases: one involving egregious racial bias (Buck v. Stephens) and the other addressing our state’s unscientific and outdated process for assessing intellectual disabilities in capital cases (Moore v. Texas). The case of Bobby James Moore raises the question of whether modern standards should be used in determining whether he is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for the death penalty.