The latest death penalty news from The Texas Tribune.
Almost 7,000 individuals in Texas have died in police custody or behind bars over the past 10 years, according to an online report released Wednesday by a University of Texas at Austin research institute. Nearly 2,000 of them had not been convicted of a crime. Full Story
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Relatives and supporters of death row inmate Jeff Wood rallied Saturday outside the Governor's Mansion, saying that Wood should not be executed for capital murder under Texas' law of parties. Full Story
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Inmate Dillion Gage Compton, 21, who worked in the prison's kitchen area, attacked and killed correctional officer Mari Johnson, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice alleged in a statement Monday. Full Story
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Gov. Greg Abbott's proposal comes after weeks of targeted killings of police officers and growing tension over disproportionate encounters between black Americans and law enforcement. Full Story
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A Texas execution set for next week has been delayed indefinitely because the state wasn't able to retest the purity of the lethal drugs in time. Full Story
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Texas has paid 101 men and women who were wrongfully sent to prison $93.6 million over the past 25 years, state data shows. The tab stands to grow as those wrongfully imprisoned individuals age and more people join the list. Full Story
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The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Thursday halted the upcoming execution of Robert Roberson. Roberson's legal team argues that Roberson's conviction in the death of his daughter was based on junk science. Full Story
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After a five-day sentencing trial, David Risner, a former police officer, was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the shooting death of Little River-Academy Police Chief Lee Dixon. Full Story
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A man who sexually assaulted and fatally stabbed a 68-year-old woman during a 1995 burglary in Hidalgo County will no longer face execution after he has been determined to be intellectually disabled. Full Story
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The cases of death row inmates Duane Buck and Bobby James Moore will be heard next term. Full Story
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Criminal justice experts say that determining mental health can be hard for anyone, including judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors and jurors. They say the issues revealed in three cases are key in furthering the discussion in how mental health is gauged when weighing the death penalty for killers. Full Story
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The execution of a man whose original trial included a hypnotized eyewitness was stopped by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Friday evening. Full Story
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Revealing Texas' supplier of execution drugs could have a harmful effect on the provider and as a result leave the state empty-handed, a lawyer for the state suggested Wednesday during an appeals court hearing. Full Story
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Freed after a decade on Texas death row for a murder he says he didn't commit, Alfred Dewayne Brown thinks he's entitled to compensation from the state, but Comptroller Glenn Hegar is saying no. Full Story
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A Webb County jury Thursday gave Demond Bluntson a death sentence for the 2012 shooting death of his 21-month-old son and his girlfriend's six-year-old boy. It was the county's first death sentence in almost 25 years. Full Story
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Our Faces of Death Row app has some new features. Now, you can search for inmates by the county where the crime was committed and see who has an execution date scheduled. Full Story
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Pablo Lucio Vasquez, who admitted to slitting the throat of a 12-year-old boy and beating him to death before stealing a ring and necklace from the body 18 years ago, was executed Wednesday evening. Full Story
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A federal appeals court on Wednesday stayed the execution of a Dallas accountant who shot and killed his two daughters in 2001. John Battaglia's lawyers argue he is not mentally competent enough to be put to death. Full Story
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Adam Kelly Ward, whom appeals courts recognized as mentally ill, was executed Tuesday evening for the 2005 shooting death of a code enforcement officer. Full Story
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More than 18 years after killing five people with five shots from a hunting rifle, Coy Wayne Wesbrook, 58, was executed Wednesday evening. Full Story
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