Texas Defender Service
@texasdefender.bsky.social
We fight for the end of mass incarceration and excessive punishment in Texas through direct representation, policy reform, and public education.
Today, Melissa Lucio was denied relief from wrongful conviction. In 2024, Judge Nelson found that Lucio was innocent of killing her daughter & ruled in her favor on all claims. The court concluded, “no rational juror would convict Ms. Lucio.”
Melissa Lucio - Innocence Project
Melissa Lucio was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for the accidental death of her daughter.
innocenceproject.org
Christa Pike was 18 when she was sentenced to death for murder. According a neurology professor, Christa “experienced more severe adverse events than 99% of the US population." Read more here:
Christa Pike, Child Rape Victim, Faces Execution for Crime She Committed as a Teenager — Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide
Take Action for Christa Sign Christa's Petition Here Visit Mercy for Christa to Learn More Case Background Listen to the Unrestorable Podcast When Tennessee sentenced Christa Pike to death on March 30th, 1996, for a crime she committed as an eighteen-year-old, she became the youngest woman to receiv...
dpw.lawschool.cornell.edu
California Has One-Quarter of All the Nation’s Death Sentences. Will Newsom Commute Them All? Read More Here:
California Has One-Quarter of All the Nation’s Death Sentences. Will Newsom Commute Them All? - Davis Vanguard
Governor Gavin Newsom, nearing the end of his gubernatorial tenure in January, faces demands from advocacy groups to commute California's remaining death sentences. These demands are predicated on long-standing criticisms of the state's capital punishment system, encompassing its operational dysfunc...
davisvanguard.org
A first-of-its-kind lawsuit challenging California’s death penalty on systemic racial grounds has cleared an initial hurdle at the California Supreme Court.
California’s Landmark Racial Bias Challenge to the Death Penalty Moves Forward | Death Penalty Information Center
A first-of-its-kind lawsuit challenging California’s death penalty on systemic racial grounds has cleared an initial hurdle at the California...
deathpenaltyinfo.org
Watch the KVUE report on TDS client Michael Highfill here:
Travis County man asks judge to reconsider his capital murder conviction after 26 years
Michael Highfill is asking a Travis County judge to reconsider his capital murder conviction after more than 26 years in prison.
kvue.com
Travis County District Attorney's Office on TDS client Michael Highfill: "We believe the evidence shows that the co-defendant acted alone and Mr. Highfill was not culpable.” Read more:
1998 murder convict may have chance to get out of prison
On Wednesday, attorneys will argue their positions on the case of Michael Highfill, who, in 2000, was convicted of capital murder for the 1998 death of Luis Flores in northeast Travis County.
kxan.com
After 26+ years behind bars, Michael Highfill is challenging his murder conviction; the Travis County District Attorney’s Office now agrees he's entitled to relief.
After 26 years in prison, prosecutors agree Michael Highfill is entitled to relief in murder case
New evidence is challenging Highfill’s capital murder conviction after more than 26 years in prison. Prosecutors now agree he is entitled to relief.
kvue.com
Ohio Gov. DeWine used clemency authority to issue 1 commutation to Greg Lott, formerly on death row. He should do more for the other 106 people on death row.
Understanding a governor’s role in Ohio’s death penalty system
Gov. DeWine has made clear that he opposes state executions and urged Ohio lawmakers to pass legislation abolishing the death penalty.
dispatch.com
Solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. 115-degree heat. Jimmie Duncan is haunted by the decades he spent on death row in Angola prison — and how, even after being released, he still isn’t truly free.
Inside a wrongfully convicted death row prisoner’s 27 years at Angola prison
Solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. 115-degree heat. Jimmie Duncan is haunted by the decades he spent on death row in Angola prison — and how, even after being released, he still isn’t truly free.
veritenews.org
A Black man once sentenced to death for murder fights for freedom after discovering his attorney defended the Ku Klux Klan.
A Black man once sentenced to death for murder fights for freedom after discovering his attorney defended the Ku Klux Klan | CNN
The attorneys representing Rocky Myers said new information emerging from his case may finally bring the freedom he has spent decades fighting for.
cnn.com
"Florida’s pace of executions also accelerated. The state averaged one execution every 16 days across 2025."
Florida’s Outlier Status: Thirteen of the Nation's Twenty-Three Executions in 2026, Even as Executions Elsewhere Decline | Death Penalty Information Center
Florida executed William Silvia on August 18, 2026, the state’s 13th execution of the year and the 23rd nationally. Florida has now carried out...
deathpenaltyinfo.org
Ohio Parole Board recommended that a man who has been on death row for 30 years should have his sentence commuted to life in prison w/ possibility of parole.
Ohio Parole Board says death row inmate Tyrone Noling’s sentence should be commuted to life
Now the fate of the convicted double murderer, whose case has attracted support from Kim Kardashian and other celebrities, is in the hands of Gov. Mike DeWine.
nbcnews.com
Journalist Ashonti Ford examines every stage of Alabama’s capital punishment system in these new four-part series.
Inside Alabama’s Death Penalty: The Process, the People and the Debate
Alabama remains one of the nation’s most active death penalty states, yet many residents know little about how executions are carried out or the legal, ethical, and human questions surrounding them...
pulitzercenter.org
William Silvia, 61, would be the 13th person put to death this year in Florida, which has 2 more executions scheduled in September and has carried out more than half of US executions so far in 2026.
Florida set to carry out 13th execution this year in nation's busiest death chamber
A Florida man convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and wounding his mother-in-law is set to be executed
abcnews.com
Nearly 1/3 (65 of 203) of people identified on DPI’s Exoneration List were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death at least in part because of junk science or flawed forensic evidence. @deathpenaltyinfo.org
What to Know: Junk Science in Death Penalty Cases | Death Penalty Information Center
DPI’s “What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts...
deathpenaltyinfo.org
Join Colin Asher and Maurice Chammah as they discuss the secret prison history of American music. This Saturday, Aug 18th, 6:30pm at First Light Books in Austin.
First Light Books
Join First Light Books for an evening with Colin Asher, whose new book opens on Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter being made to perform in prison clothes, and builds from that image into a sweeping argument: that American music as we know it, from the blues to hip-hop, was shaped in no small part by pol...
firstlightaustin.com
Hearing to review planned execution of Christa Pike, only woman on death row in TN, begins Tuesday. Pike filed lawsuit alleging lethal injection violates her religious beliefs. www.actionnews5.com/2026/08/10/hearing-review-planned-execution-christa-pike-only-woman-death-row-tennessee-set-tuesday/
Jermaine “Marlow” Wright, Former Delaware Death Row Prisoner, is 203rd Person Exonerated, 34 Years After Wrongful Conviction. @deathpenaltyinfo.org deathpenaltyinfo.org/jermaine-marlow-wright-former-delaware-death-row-prisoner-is-203rd-person-exonerated-34-years-after-his-wrongful-conviction
Of the 4 new death sentences imposed in Florida in the first half of 2026, none had a unanimous jury recommendation for death. @deathpenaltyinfo.org
What to Know: Sentencing Practices and the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center
#### DPI’s“What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts and...
deathpenaltyinfo.org
Read the Texas Monthly article on TDS client Michael Highfill here:
He Watched a Murder From the Back Seat. Now He’s Serving a Life Sentence.
Because of a legal statute called the law of parties, Michael Highfill received a harsher punishment than the woman who fired the fatal shots. Now, after nearly three decades of incarceration, there’s new hope for his release.
texasmonthly.com
Michael Highfill was wrongfully convicted of capital murder more than 26 years ago. The DA's Office now believes he was wrongfully convicted, but he's still serving a life sentence. TDS is fighting for his release. Read the @texasmonthly.bsky.social story ⬇️
He Watched a Murder From the Back Seat. Now He’s Serving a Life Sentence.
Because of a legal statute called the law of parties, Michael Highfill received a harsher punishment than the woman who fired the fatal shots. Now, after nearly three decades of incarceration, there’s...
texasmonthly.com
There are still 25 people facing execution in Alabama, even though their juries voted for life without parole. In a practice that since been abolished, trial judges overrode each jury's decision. @eji.org
Despite Jury Verdicts for Life, People in Alabama Still Face Execution
25 people face execution in Alabama whose juries voted for life.
eji.org
202 people have been exonerated from death row since 1973, across 30 states. 65% of exonerees are people of color. More than half are Black. @deathpenaltyinfo.org
What to Know: Innocence and the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center
DPI’s “What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts...
deathpenaltyinfo.org
Of the 202 total death row exonerations, at least 144, or roughly 70%, involved prosecutorial misconduct specifically. @deathpenaltyinfo.org
What to Know: Prosecutorial Misconduct and the Death Penalty | Death Penalty Information Center
DPI’s “What to Know” series examines capital punishment from multiple angles, one topic at a time. Each installment provides essential facts...
deathpenaltyinfo.org
We are grateful that after an in-depth review of the evidence, the Travis County DA's Office now agrees TDS client Mr. Highfill was wrongfully convicted of capital murder. www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/two-people-charged-in-1998-murder-the-one-who-pulled-the-trigger-got-a-shorter-sentence-what-now/
According to court records, a woman named Rebecca Walton admitted to shooting and killing Flores and said Highfill was not involved in the actual killing act. https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/two-people-charged-in-1998-murder-the-one-who-pulled-the-trigger-got-a-shorter-sentence-what-now/
‘He was stabbed wide open’: Family of Tony Carruthers files complaint against doctor over failed Tennessee execution attempt:
‘He was stabbed wide open’: Family of Tony Carruthers files complaint against doctor over failed Tennessee execution attempt
Nearly two months after the scheduled execution of Tony Carruthers was called off, the family of the death row inmate has filed a complaint against the doctor involved in the failed execution.
wkrn.com
For the first time in 60 years, Florida is scheduling two executions for the same day: one for a former police officer and one for an 80-year-old man. #EndTheDeathPenalty
2 executions scheduled for same day in Florida for the first time in more than 60 years
The state of Florida is set to execute two death row inmates on the same day for the first time in more than 60 years, now that a stay has been lifted for a former police officer who had been scheduled to die earlier his year
abcnews.com
The death penalty is often supported as abstract, affecting “monsters” who've committed the worst crimes. In reality, it is imposed on human beings with a life, relatives, hobbies, dreams, and setbacks –not on abstractions.
24th World Day Against the Death Penalty – Stories for Life - WCADP
Observed every 10 October, the World Day Against the Death Penalty unifies the global abolitionist movement and mobilizes civil society, political leaders, lawyers, public opinion and more to support the call for the universal abolition of capital punishment. On 10 October 2026 and 2027, the World Day will be dedicated to humanizing the people affected by the Death Penalty, focusing on the stories of the human beings affected by the death penalty whose voices are too often neglected or silenced.
tinyurl.com
