Texas capital punishment

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Texas Court Suspends Death Penalty Challenge

Observers doubt they will continue

(Newser) - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has called a stop to a challenge to the constitutionality of the death penalty, after an emergency appeal by prosecutors. Defense attorneys for accused murderer John Edward Green had brought a pretrial challenge to Texas’ death penalty, arguing that it didn’t do enough...

Texas Prosecutors 'Stand Mute' at Death Penalty Hearing

Challenge to decide whether Texas' death penalty is constitutional

(Newser) - The death penalty is facing a major constitutional challenge in Texas, but the district attorney in the case literally doesn’t think it’s worth talking about. At a hearing yesterday to determine whether Texas’ death penalty is unconstitutional because it doesn't have enough safeguards for defendants, prosecutors said they’...

Texas Could Soon Rule Death Penalty Unconstitutional

State has unfair risk of wrongful conviction, lawyers will argue

(Newser) - In Texas of all places, the death penalty could soon be declared unconstitutional. The state (which leads the US in number of executions since 1976, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice ) has a disproportionately high number of wrongful convictions, attorneys will argue at a hearing Monday. Twelve...

Condemned Man Spared During Last Meal

Murder convict Hank Skinner granted last-minute reprieve

(Newser) - A death row inmate in Texas was spared Wednesday just as he was finishing his last meal on earth—chicken, a bacon cheeseburger, fries, catfish, onion rings, and a salad. Hank Skinner, who had been on death row since 1995, was convicted of bludgeoning to death his live-in girlfriend and...

Jurors Used Bible to Decide Death Sentence

Amnesty International troubled by Old Testament justice

(Newser) - Death-row foes are complaining that a Texas jury ordered to consider only evidence presented in court consulted the Old Testament before condemning a man to death. Jurors examined highlighted passages in Bibles passed around the jury room to help them decide the fate of Khristian Oliver. The con killed a...

Con Wins Death Stay in Judge Affair Appeal

Relationship between judge and prosecutor not reason for decision

(Newser) - A Texas death-row inmate who filed an appeal alleging that an affair between the judge and prosecutor compromised his trial has been granted a stay of execution. But, ABC News reports, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals approved Charles Dean Hood's request based not on the affair but because of...

Executions Drop to 13-Year Low
Executions Drop to 13-Year Low
Dec 19, 2007 12:14 PM CST

Executions Drop to 13-Year Low

42 people put to death in '07; further decline could follow Court ruling

(Newser) - With the Supreme Court set to hear arguments Jan. 7 about lethal-injection procedures, figures show that US states executed just 42 people this year, a 13-year low. The case before the court has prompted states using lethal injection to execute inmates to stay pending executions; on Monday, New Jersey became...

Texas Executions at Standstill
Texas Executions at Standstill
Oct 3, 2007 1:44 PM CDT

Texas Executions at Standstill

Case before US Supreme Court used to stay death order

(Newser) - As the US Supreme Court reviews the constitutionality of lethal-injection methods, a Texas appeals court yesterday stayed an execution order scheduled to be carried out tonight—bringing the country's busiest death row to a standstill. The Supreme Court is looking at a case brought by death-row inmates in Kentucky who...

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