---
title: 'Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Texas Case on Representation for Death Row Appeals'
description: 'On October 29, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a death penalty case from Texas to determine whether inmates there can raise claims of inadequate…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-texas-case-on-representation-for-death-row-appeals'
section: news
date: '2012-11-01T18:32:13-04:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T14:33:38-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

! On October 29, the **U.S. Supreme Court** agreed to hear a death penalty case from **Texas** to determine whether inmates there can raise claims of inadequate trial representation in federal court if they were effectively prevented from raising such a claim in their state appeal by the further failure of their appellate lawyers. Lower courts considering this issue have held that an earlier Supreme Court ruling, *Martinez v. Ryan* (2012), which provided such a right in an Arizona case, does not apply in Texas because defendants have multiple opportunities to claim their lawyers failed them. The case is *Trevino v. Thaler*. Carlos Trevino's current lawyers argue that there was a great deal of mitigating evidence that the trial lawyers failed to find and present at trial. The case will probably be argued early next year.

(M. Chammah, "[Supreme Court to Hear Texas Death Row Inmate's Case](https://www.texastribune.org/texas-dept-criminal-justice/death-penalty/us-supreme-court-hear-texas-death-row-inmates-case/)," Texas Tribune, October 29, 2012; Trevino v. Thaler, No. 11-10189, cert. granted Oct. 29, 2012). See [**Representation**](/death-penalty-representation?did=896&scid=68) and [**Supreme Court**](/news-us-supreme-court). Listen to DPIC's podcast **[on the Supreme Court](/podcasts#sup)**.