Texas criminal appeals court removes Tomas Gallo from death row because of his intellectual disability
The court re-sentenced Gallo to life in prison for the murder of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/9ad6a6384ad7cb50467d44227f440e51/0131 Huntsville Unit MC TT 06.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/9ad6a6384ad7cb50467d44227f440e51/0131%20Huntsville%20Unit%20MC%20TT%2006.jpg)
-
![The Huntsville Unit Texas State Penitentiary houses the execution chamber of Texas and is located in Huntsville on Jan. 31, 2024.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
State district judge recommends overturning Melissa Lucio’s death sentence
In a rare joint statement, the district attorney and the defense agreed that prosecutors withheld evidence that could point to a Rio Grande Valley woman’s innocence in the death of her toddler. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/ff47ba43c3add752463a7694bfd7b951/Melissa Lucio Courtesy TT 01.jpg)
![Melissa Lucio was convicted and sentenced to death in 2008 for the murder of her her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez.]()
Credit: Courtesy of Melissa Lucio's attorneys -
Texas criminal appeals court takes man off death row over intellectual disability
Since Randall Mays was sentenced to death in 2008 for the murder of two sheriff’s deputies, his lawyers have argued his intellectual disability exempts him from execution. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/18735e5c0199613f702cd72b0fdf5084/0131 Ivan Cantu MC TT 31.jpg)
![Guard towers are located around the Polunsky Unit on Jan. 31, 2024.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Texas executes Ivan Cantu for Dallas murders despite doubts of his guilt
Faith leaders and jurors from the original trial launched a public campaign to reconsider recanted testimony in Cantu’s case. Texas courts declined. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/02f73e3a65d4a7d6253d19ed9bc554ce/0131 Ivan Cantu MC TT 17.jpg)
![Ivan Cantu poses for a photo on Jan. 31, 2024. Cantu is locked in a room for visitation and uses a telephone to speak to a reporter.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Despite mounting doubts about his guilt, Ivan Cantu running out of time to avoid Texas’ death chamber
Convicted of killing his cousin and his cousin’s fiancée, the death row inmate hopes recanted testimony and other new details spur a review of his case. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/398615f5aa26209b1c61cf1aa5666df2/0131 Ivan Cantu MC TT 16.jpg)
![Ivan Cantu poses for a photo in the visitation room of the Polunsky Unit on Jan. 31, 2024. This is Cantu's third time being on death row.]()
Credit: Maria Crane/The Texas Tribune -
Texas executes David Renteria for 2001 murder of El Paso girl
Renteria’s attorneys unsuccessfully argued that the El Paso District Attorney’s Office violated his constitutional rights by not releasing all documents in his case. He was the eight person executed in Texas in 2023. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2014/06/06/Witness_Viewing_RoomCrop.jpg)
![The execution chamber seen from one of two witness viewing rooms at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Huntsville Unit.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Texas inmate Syed Rabbani taken off death row after original appeal was left pending for decades
A prosecutor called delays in Rabbani’s long-standing appeal “a due process disaster.” Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/0c2fa6e0440b9f49d13497cb19a5d89b/Hi Res Rabbani Resentence 01.jpg)
![Joshua Reiss, a division chief with the Harris County District Attorney's Office, at right, hands Judge Lori Chambers Gray a copy of Syed Rabbani’s original trail transcript during a hearing for Rabbani at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023, in Houston. Rabbani was issued the death sentence in 1988 after a jury found Rabbani guilty of killing a fellow Bangladeshi immigrant, 28-year-old Mohammed Hasan, at a Houston convenience store. (Antranik Tavitian / Houston Landing)]()
Credit: Antranik Tavitian/Houston Landing -
Texas’ top criminal court halts William Speer’s execution hours before he was scheduled to die
Speer has been on death row for decades after strangling another inmate at a Texas prison. The victim’s sister and faith leaders have both called on the parole board to halt the execution. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/5fb5391e0ec27aba1cee8207d7489a7e/0329 TDCJ Chamber Screenshot 06 TT.jpg)
![Interior of Death Chamber in Texas.]()
Credit: Jenevieve Robbins/Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Convicted murderer Scott Panetti isn’t sane enough to be executed, federal judge rules
Panetti murdered his in-laws in 1992. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2007 set new court precedent with his case, raising the bar on the constitutional restriction against executing the insane. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/11c309da85dd3c08b4828737903fa3fd/0329 TDCJ Chamber Screenshot 07 TT.jpg)
![Interior of Death Chamber in Texas.]()
Credit: Jenevieve Robbins/Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Texas courts struggle to resolve criminal appeals that got lost in Harris County for decades
Overlooked in the churn of one of the country’s busiest courthouses, the forgotten appeals included two death penalty cases, and one from a man who’s already finished his 20-year sentence. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/5e9c459c0f9cee4597aaed38b9cbabac/Harris County Jail CR TT 01.jpg)
![The Harris County Criminal Justice Center in Houston on Nov. 16, 2016.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
Texas’ highest criminal court emphatically rejects death row inmate Rodney Reed’s claim of innocence
Reed, a Black man on death row for more than 25 years, has gained international support for his claims that he did not kill 19-year-old Stacey Stites, a white woman. Another appeal over DNA testing of evidence is still pending. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/bb83d676afd0c20ce5b65b0164f6d8c1/Rodney Reed KXAN TT.jpg)
![Rodney Reed was sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites in Bastrop.]()
Credit: Courtesy KXAN -
Texas judge cancels Ivan Cantu execution after new evidence suggests he might be innocent
Two jurors from Cantu’s 2001 double-murder trial now support his appeals, which claim prosecutors relied on false testimony and withheld crucial evidence. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/ec643febdd90afc1005d5d927a5dd52c/0329 TDCJ Chamber Screenshot TT.jpg)
![Interior of Death Chamber in Texas.]()
Credit: Jenevieve Robbins/Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Texas death row inmate Andre Thomas’ execution date was postponed to allow his legal team reasonable time to prove his incompetence
At issue is whether Thomas, who gouged out his eyes after confessing to a 2004 triple murder in Sherman, is competent to be executed. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/a6754b57dfa17ab5b6a1e0a438abd9ec/Andre Thomas TT.jpg)
![A photograph of Andre Thomas, who is on death row for the murders of his son, his estranged wife and her daughter.]()
Credit: Courtesy of the Paul Boren family -
Texas death row inmate Andre Thomas’ attorneys apply for clemency, citing mental illness
At issue is whether Thomas, who gouged out his eyes after confessing to the 2004 murders of his estranged wife, their son and her daughter, is competent to be executed in April. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2014/06/04/TCJD-Execution.jpg)
![The view of Texas' execution chamber from a witness viewing room.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Texas death row prisoners spend decades in solitary confinement. A lawsuit wants to end that “cruel” treatment.
Men sentenced to death in Texas are held in isolation until their execution dates, with little human contact, medical care or legal help, according to a lawsuit filed to improve treatment of the condemned. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2015/06/12/Polunksy.jpg)
![The Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Livingston, TX.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Texas executes Robert Fratta after high courts reject challenges to expired lethal injection drugs
Fratta was convicted in the 1994 murder-for-hire of his wife. Lawyers unsuccessfully challenged Texas’ routine of extending the expiration dates of its lethal drugs, a practice begun when many pharmacies began refusing to provide doses for executions. Full Story
![The view of Texas' execution chamber from a witness viewing room.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Texas’ execution of Stephen Barbee was prolonged while officials searched for a vein
Barbee, convicted in the 2005 murders of his pregnant ex-girlfriend and her child, was unable to straighten his arms, which caused the delay. Courts allowed Barbee’s execution despite concerns from his lawyer that his disability would make the process “torture.” Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2016/09/09/DeathChamber-Texas.jpg)
![Texas' execution chamber in Huntsville.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Texas executes Tracy Beatty for strangling mother to death
Beatty’s lawyers argued unsuccessfully that the 2003 Smith County murder didn’t qualify for the death penalty. Neither the Supreme Court nor Texas Gov. Greg Abbott intervened on Wednesday. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/61ec3a3db4b17f59317edac60ad883bc/Huntsville Jail MF TT 02.jpg)
![Huntsville, Texas: Exteriors of the Texas State Penitentiary “Walls Unit” August 20, 2020 in Huntsville, Texas.]()
Credit: Mark Felix for The Texas Tribune -
Texas tries again to prove that Scott Panetti is just sane enough to be executed
The convicted murderer’s lengthy history of schizophrenia and delusions is well documented, from trying to call Jesus Christ as a trial witness to believing that prison dentists put a transmitter in his tooth. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/297db3fbc70723e382591731c542292b/Ferguson Unit AM TT 13.jpg)
![The Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville, also known as the "Walls Unit,” near downtown Huntsville, on Aug. 16, 2022.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
U.S. Supreme Court rejects request to review Texas death row inmate Andre Thomas’ case
Thomas’ attorneys appealed saying that some members of the jury that sentenced him had expressed racist views. In their dissent, the court’s three liberal justices wrote that Thomas’ conviction and death sentence were unconstitutional. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/3d6a98723642cc86872a5484a2d57882/SCOTUS Nov 1 EL TT 19.jpg)
![The Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 1, 2021. Today, the Supreme Court will hear cases regarding abortion in Texas.]()
Credit: Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/ff47ba43c3add752463a7694bfd7b951/Melissa%20Lucio%20Courtesy%20TT%2001.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/18735e5c0199613f702cd72b0fdf5084/0131%20Ivan%20Cantu%20MC%20TT%2031.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/02f73e3a65d4a7d6253d19ed9bc554ce/0131%20Ivan%20Cantu%20MC%20TT%2017.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/398615f5aa26209b1c61cf1aa5666df2/0131%20Ivan%20Cantu%20MC%20TT%2016.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/0c2fa6e0440b9f49d13497cb19a5d89b/Hi%20Res%20Rabbani%20Resentence%2001.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/5fb5391e0ec27aba1cee8207d7489a7e/0329%20TDCJ%20Chamber%20Screenshot%2006%20TT.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/11c309da85dd3c08b4828737903fa3fd/0329%20TDCJ%20Chamber%20Screenshot%2007%20TT.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/5e9c459c0f9cee4597aaed38b9cbabac/Harris%20County%20Jail%20CR%20TT%2001.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/bb83d676afd0c20ce5b65b0164f6d8c1/Rodney%20Reed%20KXAN%20TT.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/ec643febdd90afc1005d5d927a5dd52c/0329%20TDCJ%20Chamber%20Screenshot%20TT.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/a6754b57dfa17ab5b6a1e0a438abd9ec/Andre%20Thomas%20TT.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/61ec3a3db4b17f59317edac60ad883bc/Huntsville%20Jail%20MF%20TT%2002.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/297db3fbc70723e382591731c542292b/Ferguson%20Unit%20AM%20TT%2013.jpg)
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/3d6a98723642cc86872a5484a2d57882/SCOTUS%20Nov%201%20EL%20TT%2019.jpg)