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State & Federal

Texas

Timeline

1924 — Texas car­ries out its first exe­cu­tion by elec­tro­cu­tion in the exe­cu­tion of Charles Reynolds in Red River County.

1974 — Texas rein­states the death penal­ty fol­low­ing Furman v. Georgia.

1982 — Texas becomes the first state to car­ry out an exe­cu­tion by lethal injection.

1995 — Mario Marquez, a pris­on­er with an IQ of 65 and the adap­tive skills of a 7‑year-old, is exe­cut­ed. Mr. Marquez’s tri­al coun­sel tes­ti­fies that no evi­dence was pre­sent­ed of his intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty because of a legal flaw in the Texas death penalty statute.

2005 — Texas imple­ments life with­out parole sen­tenc­ing in capital cases.

2011 — A group of for­mer Texas judges, pros­e­cu­tors, and law enforce­ment offi­cers request DNA tests for death row inmate Hank Skinner.

2012 — A Texas coun­ty judge declines to order a psy­chi­atric eval­u­a­tion to deter­mine whether Marcus Druery is com­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed. His attor­neys argue that he is hear­ing voic­es, believes he is being poi­soned, and lacks the under­stand­ing of his legal situation.

2012 — The Texas Attorney General’s Office releas­es par­tial results of DNA test­ing long request­ed by the attor­neys for death row pris­on­er Hank Skinner.

2013 — Death row pris­on­er Andre Thomas is diag­nosed with para­noid schiz­o­phre­nia and audi­to­ry hal­lu­ci­na­tions, dri­ving him to gouge out both of his eyes. Prosecutors still main­tain that he should be executed.

2013 — Governor Rick Perry signs a bill known as the ​“Michael Morton Act” that requires pros­e­cu­tors to open their files to defen­dants and keep records of the evi­dence they dis­close. The act is named after Michael Morton, who was exon­er­at­ed by DNA evi­dence 24 years after he was sen­tenced to life in prison in 1987.

2013 — The Supreme Court rules in Trevino v. Thaler that death row inmates in Texas can raise claims of inef­fec­tive­ness of coun­sel in fed­er­al court if they did not have a chance to raise the claim in state appeals.

2013 — A new law requires DNA test­ing for all bio­log­i­cal evi­dence pri­or to seek­ing the death penalty.

2013 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rules that a tri­al court ille­gal­ly ordered the forcible med­ica­tion of men­tal­ly ill death row pris­on­er Steven Staley, whose men­tal health began to dete­ri­o­rate when he entered death row in 2006.

2014 — Texas with­holds impor­tant infor­ma­tion revealed in the course of an inde­pen­dent autop­sy of Clayton Lockett, a death row pris­on­er who had under­gone a botched lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tion in the state of Oklahoma.

2014 — District Judge Darlene Byrne rules that the source of Texas’ lethal injec­tion drugs is a mat­ter of pub­lic record and the state should release the infor­ma­tion, includ­ing the sup­pli­ers of drugs obtained for lethal injections.

2016 — The Supreme Court hears argu­ment in Buck v. Davis, a Texas case in which Duane Buck was giv­en the death penal­ty after his own lawyer pre­sent­ed expert tes­ti­mo­ny from a psy­chol­o­gist who assert­ed that he would like­ly com­mit more acts of vio­lence because he is Black.

2017 — Texas sues the U.S. Federal Drug Administration over its con­tin­ued seizure of drugs that Texas intends to use for lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tions. The FDA asserts that these ship­ments vio­late fed­er­al law and that sodi­um thiopen­tal has no legal use in the United States.

2017 — The Supreme Court grants relief to Duane Buck after hear­ing an oral argu­ment in Buck v. Davis.

2017 — The Supreme Court over­turns Texas’ stan­dard for deter­min­ing intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty in cap­i­tal cas­es, assert­ing that the state’s approach cre­ates an ​“unac­cept­able risk that per­sons with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty will be executed.”

2017 — 1000 vials of the anes­thet­ic sodi­um thiopen­tal that Texas had attempt­ed to ille­gal­ly import into the United States for use in lethal injec­tion executions expires.

2017 — Duane Buck is resen­tenced to life in prison.

2018 — Investigation reveals that Texas has pur­chased exe­cu­tion drugs from a Houston-based com­pound­ing phar­ma­cy with a taint­ed safe­ty record for three-and-a-half-years.

2019 — The U.S. Supreme Court over­turns the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for the sec­ond time and rules that death row pris­on­er Bobby James Moore is intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled and may not be executed.

2021 — The Texas Department of Criminal Justice revis­es exe­cu­tion pro­to­col to per­mit spir­i­tu­al advis­ers in the death chamber.

2021 — The Texas House of Representatives pass a bill that, if approved in the Texas Senate, would end death penal­ty lia­bil­i­ty for felony accom­plices who did not kill and were minor par­tic­i­pants in the con­duct that led to the death of the victim.

2021 — The nation’s longest serv­ing death row pris­on­ers, Raymond Riles, is resen­tenced to life.

2021 — The Supreme Court hears an argu­ment to review death row pris­on­er John Henry Ramirez’s claim that Texas’ refusal to allow his pas­tor to ​“lay hands” on him or pray audi­bly dur­ing his exe­cu­tion vio­lates the fed­er­al Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) and his First Amendment right to the free exer­cise of religion.

2022 — The Supreme Court rules that Texas must allow John Ramirez’s pas­tor to touch and pray over him dur­ing his lethal injection execution.

2023 — A Texas court in Grayson County with­draws Andre Thomas’ exe­cu­tion date to allow more time for his legal team to demon­strate that he is incom­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed. While on death row, Mr. Thomas gouged out his own eyes and claimed divine direc­tion for his crimes.

2023 — In Reed v. Goertz, the Supreme Court rules that Texas death row pris­on­er Rodney Reed can con­tin­ue his pur­suit of DNA test­ing that had been blocked by a lower court.

Famous Cases

Karla Faye Tucker (November 18, 1959 – February 3, 1998) was con­vict­ed of mur­der in Texas in 1984 and put to death in 1998. She was the first woman to be exe­cut­ed in the United States since 1984, and the first in Texas since 1863.

Cameron Todd Willingham was exe­cut­ed in 2004 for arson in a 1991 house fire that killed his three daugh­ters. The arson the­o­ries used as evi­dence in his case have since be repu­di­at­ed by sci­en­tif­ic advances, and arson experts now believe the fire may have been accidental.

Notable Cases

Anthony Graves spent 16 years in prison before being released on October 27, 2010. He was con­vict­ed based on the tes­ti­mo­ny of Robert Carter, who said Graves was his accom­plice. Two weeks before Carter was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed in 2000, he pro­vid­ed a state­ment say­ing he lied about Graves’s involve­ment in the crime. He repeat­ed that state­ment min­utes before his exe­cu­tion. Graves’ con­vic­tion was over­turned in 2006 due to pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct, and the spe­cial pros­e­cu­tor assigned to his new tri­al dropped the charges against him, say­ing ​“We found not one piece of cred­i­ble evi­dence that links Anthony Graves to the com­mis­sion of this cap­i­tal murder…He is an innocent man”

Randall Dale Adams was con­vict­ed of killing a police offi­cer. Another sus­pect, David Harris, was heard brag­ging about the mur­der, but said that Adams was the killer. The wit­ness­es in Adams’ case were nev­er cross-exam­ined because they dis­ap­peared after tes­ti­fy­ing. After Adams’ con­vic­tion and death sen­tence were over­turned, pros­e­cu­tors did not seek a new tri­al due to evi­dence of Adams’ inno­cence. This case is the sub­ject of the movie The Thin Blue Line.

Several death row inmates in Texas have been exe­cut­ed despite seri­ous doubts about their guilt, but they have not been offi­cial­ly exon­er­at­ed. (Names link to details of that case.)

  • Cameron Todd Willingham
  • Gary Graham
  • Carlos De Luna
  • Ruben Cantu
  • Frances Newton

Milestones in Abolition/​Reinstatement

In September 2005, Texas imple­ment­ed life with­out parole sen­tenc­ing in cap­i­tal cas­es. Prior to that, juries had a choice between the death penal­ty and life in prison with a pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole after 40 years.

Texas ​“Firsts”

Texas was the first U.S. state to car­ry out an exe­cu­tion by lethal injec­tion, exe­cut­ing Charles Brooks on December 7, 1982.

Texas is first in the num­ber of exe­cu­tions car­ried out in the United States since 1976.

Other Interesting Facts

One Texas coun­ty (Harris) accounts for 280+ death sen­tences and 127 exe­cu­tions since 1982.

The Texas Governor can­not impose a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions, as this author­i­ty is not allowed in the Texas Constitution. To give the Governor this pow­er would require a con­sti­tu­tion­al amend­ment approved by voters.

Clemency process: The gov­er­nor has clemen­cy author­i­ty on the advice of the Board of Pardons and Paroles and needs a favor­able rec­om­men­da­tion from the Board in order to be able to grant clemen­cy. The gov­er­nor is not oblig­at­ed to fol­low the rec­om­men­da­tion of the Board, how­ev­er. The gov­er­nor also has the pow­er to grant a one-time 30 day reprieve. The gov­er­nor appoints the mem­bers of the Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Of Texas’ 254 coun­ties, 136 have nev­er sent a sin­gle offend­er to death row (1976-present). See a map of death sen­tences in Texas by county.

Texas has the Law of Parties, which allows offend­ers to be sen­tenced to death if present while a cap­i­tal crime is being com­mit­ted based on the offend­er being ​“crim­i­nal­ly respon­si­ble for the con­duct of another.”

13 juve­niles were exe­cut­ed in Texas before the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court deci­sion in Roper v. Simmons. 29 juve­niles await­ing exe­cu­tion were sen­tenced to Life In Prison and removed from death row in response to the decision.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court pro­hib­it­ed the appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty to per­sons with men­tal retar­da­tion in Atkins v. Virginia (2002), the Texas Legislature still has not enact­ed statu­to­ry pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing the stan­dards and pro­ce­dures to be fol­lowed in these cases.

Graphic by The Texas Tribune based upon data as of June 24, 2015.

Resources

  • Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP)
  • American Bar Association Texas Death Penalty Assessment Report
  • TCADP 2017 Annual Report
  • Texas Defender Service
  • Department of Criminal Justice
  • State Prosecuting Attorney
  • Task Force on Indigent Defense
  • Victims’ ser­vices
  • The StandDown Texas Project
  • Death Penalty News & Updates from Professor Rick Halperin of Southern Methodist University
  • Timothy Cole Advisory Panel on Wrongful Convictions
  • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
  • Texas Criminal Justice Integrity Unit
  • Texas Death Row Information from the Dept. of Criminal Justice
  • ExecutionWatch, a radio show with live cov­er­age of every Texas execution
  • Texas After Violence Project
  • List of cur­rent Texas death row pris­on­ers, from the Texas Tribune
  • Faces on death row, a project of the Texas Tribune, fea­tur­ing pho­tographs and demo­graph­ic data for Texas’ death row prisoners

Texas Execution Totals Since 1976


News & Developments


News

May 06, 2025

New DPI Data Analysis: How Race Affects Capital Charging and Sentencing of 18 to 20-Year-Olds

In com­mem­o­ra­tion of the 20th anniver­sary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s land­mark deci­sion end­ing the juve­nile death penal­ty, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPI) has released a new report: Immature Minds in a​“Maturing Society”: Roper v. Simmons at 20, detail­ing the grow­ing sup­port for the idea that indi­vid­u­als ages 18, 19, and 20 should receive the same age-appro­pri­ate con­sid­er­a­tions that juve­niles now receive in death penal­ty cas­es. The report also reveals…

Read More

News

Mar 27, 2025

U.S. Supreme Court Denies Review in Texas Faulty DNA Evidence Case, Despite Prosecutor Confession of Error

On March 24, 2025, the United States Supreme Court denied review of Areli Escobar’s (pic­tured) most recent appeal of his mur­der con­vic­tion, which argued for relief based on the fact that the Texas pros­e­cu­tor had con­fessed error over the mis­lead­ing use of incon­clu­sive DNA evi­dence at tri­al. In his peti­tion, Mr. Escobar’s legal team said Travis County pros­e­cu­tors had relied heav­i­ly at tri­al on com­pro­mised evi­dence ana­lyzed by the Austin Police Department’s crime…

Read More

News

Mar 12, 2025

Courts Put Upcoming Texas, Louisiana Executions on Hold

On March 11, in sep­a­rate deci­sions, a fed­er­al court in Louisiana and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) stayed the upcom­ing exe­cu­tions of David Wood (sched­uled for exe­cu­tion in Texas on March 13) and Jessie Hoffman (sched­uled for exe­cu­tion in Louisiana on March 18). In Mr. Wood’s case, the TCCA grant­ed a stay of exe­cu­tion to allow the state more time to address the eight claims Mr. Wood assert­ed in his state habeas claim. In Mr. Hoffman’s case, the U.S. District Court for the Middle…

Read More

News

Feb 26, 2025

Robert Roberson Once Again Asks Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to Consider New Evidence Supporting His Actual Innocence and Grant Him Relief

Robert Roberson with daugh­ter Nikki. Courtesy of the…

Read More

News

Jan 28, 2025

Death Penalty Documentary Nominated for Academy Award

I am Ready, Warden, a doc­u­men­tary about Texas death row pris­on­er John Henry Ramirez, was announced as a nom­i­nee for Best Documentary Short at the 2025 Academy Awards. The film tells the sto­ry of the days lead­ing up to Mr. Ramirez’s 2022 exe­cu­tion. It fea­tures inter­views with Mr. Ramirez and his son, Israel, as well as Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez, who oppos­es the death penal­ty and sought to halt Mr. Ramirez’s exe­cu­tion. It also cen­ters the expe­ri­ence of Aaron Castro, the son…

Read More
View More

View Information by State

Additional Information


  • Death Penalty: Yes
  • Number of Executions Since 1976: 592 state exe­cu­tions, 6 federal executions
  • Number of Executions Before 1976 (may include fed­er­al and military executions): 755
  • Current Death Row Population: 178
  • Women on Death Row: 6
  • Number of Innocent People Freed From Death Row: 18
  • Number of Clemencies Granted: 3
  • Date of Reinstatement (fol­low­ing Furman v. Georgia): January 1, 1974
  • First Execution After Reinstatement: 1982
  • Location of Death Row (Men): Polunsky Unit, Livingston
  • Location of Death Row (Women): Mountain View Unit (DR), Gatesville
  • Location of Execution: Walls Unit, Huntsville
  • Capital: Austin
  • Region: South
  • Population: 29,145,505*
  • Murder Rate (per 100,000 population): 4.86
  • Is Life Without Parole an Option?: Yes
  • Can a defen­dant get death for a felony in which s/​he was not respon­si­ble for the murder?: Yes
  • Method of Execution: Injection
  • How is Sentence Determined?: Jury
  • Clemency Process: Governor must have the Board of Pardons and Paroles’ rec­om­men­da­tion for clemency.
  • Governor: Greg Abbott
Upcoming Executions

Upcoming Executions

Information about scheduled executions around the country

Innocence

Innocence

For every 8.2 peo­ple exe­cut­ed in the Unit­ed States in the mod­ern era of the death penal­ty, one per­son on death row has been exon­er­at­ed.

State-By-State

State-By-State

States With and Without the Death Penalty

DPI Fact Sheet

DPI Fact Sheet

PDF handout with facts about the Death Penalty

More Information


Innocence Database

Execution Database

Death Penalty Census Database

Death Penalty Information Center
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