Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

U.S. Supreme Court finds Bobby Moore should be exempt from death penalty based on intellectual disability

Kristin intellectual disabilities, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, U.S. Supreme Court

Today, February 19, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a per curiam decision in the case of Moore v. Texas, finding that Bobby James Moore is intellectually disabled and should be exempt from the death penalty. Moore has been on death row in Texas since 1980. This is the second time the Supreme Court has […]

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Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stays first scheduled execution of 2019

Kristin execution, Stay of execution

Update as of 1:30 PM:  The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) has stopped the state’s first scheduled execution of the year, pointing to changes in bite mark science and laws regarding intellectual disability and the death penalty, per the Texas Tribune. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2017 ruling in Moore v. Texas found the state of […]

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New report: Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2018: The Year in Review

Kristin death sentences, executions, Stay of execution, TCADP Annual Report

Death sentences remained near historic low levels in Texas in 2018, yet the state’s capital punishment system is still plagued by racial bias, geographical disparities, and fundamental unfairness, according to a new report from the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP). The number of death sentences and executions in 2018 was consistent with lower use of the death penalty in Texas over the last 10 years. New death sentences remained in the single digits for the ninth time in ten years, with Texas juries condemning seven individuals to death. All seven men sentenced to death in Texas in 2018 are people of color.

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