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Amplify Austin executions TCADP Annual Conference

TCADP 2017 March Alert: Time to Amplify Abolition!

In this edition of our monthly newsletter, you’ll find information about the two executions scheduled to occur in Texas in March, a recap of our recent annual conference, and links to an important opinion piece on a Dallas County death penalty case and a new statement opposing capital punishment from the American Nurses Association.

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Duane Buck U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Supreme Court rules that Duane Buck deserves new sentencing hearing

Today the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Texas death row inmate Duane Buck is entitled to a new sentencing hearing. Buck was sentenced to death after a Houston jury heard false and unconstitutional testimony from a defense “expert” that he was more likely to be a future danger because he is black.

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death penalty death sentences executions Stay of execution TCADP Annual Report Texas

Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2016: The Year in Review

Today, TCADP released its year-end report, Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2016: The Year in Review. The report provides in-depth information on new death sentences, executions, and stays; reduced sentences; judicial developments; public opinion; and other issues affecting the administration of justice in Texas.

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execution incompetency TCADP Annual Conference

TCADP December 2016 Alert: Announcing the 2017 Award Recipients

In this edition of our monthly alert, you’ll find information about the last execution scheduled to take place in Texas this year, as well as announcements related to the TCADP 2017 Annual Conference and coverage of a recent U.S. Supreme Court hearing about intellectual disabilities in a Texas death penalty case.

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intellectual disabilities U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Supreme Court set to hear Moore v. Texas

On Tuesday, November 29, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court will hold oral argument in Moore v. Texas, a case that addresses Texas’s unscientific standard for determining whether a person is […]

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death penalty Duane Buck Texas U.S. Supreme Court

SCOTUS Likely to Find Racial Bias in Case of Duane Buck

On October 5, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments describing racial bias in the death penalty case of Duane Buck. Duane Buck was condemned to death in 1997, after his […]

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execution Gregg vs. Georgia Texas U.S. Supreme Court

TCADP July 2016 Alert: 40 years of the “modern” death penalty era

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.

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Gregg vs. Georgia Harris County prosecutorial misconduct

New Report Names Former Texas Prosecutor Among Top Five Deadliest Prosecutors in America

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.