Entries tagged with “Ken Paxton”

Upcoming Executions

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Jul 18, 2025

District Judge Sets ​“Unfortunate” New Execution Date for Texas Prisoner Robert Roberson, Despite Pending Petition in Support of His Innocence Claim

On July 16, 2025, Smith County District Judge Austin Reeve Jackson set an exe­cu­tion date of October 16, 2025 for Robert Roberson, a man with a strong inno­cence claim who has a habeas cor­pus peti­tion pend­ing at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA). Judge Jackson, after hear­ing argu­ments from both defense coun­sel for Mr. Roberson and attor­neys from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office, ruled that there was no legal basis for not sign­ing an exe­cu­tion order.​“It doesn’t…

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…