Entries tagged with “Joe Moody

Innocence

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Nov 20, 2024

Texas Supreme Court Rules that a New Execution Date Can be Set for Robert Roberson

In a November 15, 2024, rul­ing, the Texas Supreme Court cleared the way for the state to resched­ule the exe­cu­tion of Robert Roberson, despite com­pelling evi­dence of his inno­cence and wide­spread sup­port for a new tri­al. Mr. Roberson was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed October 17, but on October 16 the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence issued a sub­poe­na for Mr. Roberson to tes­ti­fy on a day after his exe­cu­tion was to occur. A dis­trict court tem­porar­i­ly halt­ed the exe­cu­tion so that…

Innocence

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Oct 28, 2024

Simply Untrue”: Lawmakers Refute Unprecedented Attack by Texas Attorney General in Robert Roberson’s Case

On October 23, 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released a press state­ment, the orig­i­nal autop­sy report, and oth­er case records in an effort to set the record straight” and cor­rect false­hoods” that he accused state law­mak­ers of mak­ing about Robert Roberson (pic­tured). In this unprece­dent­ed attack, AG Paxton also char­ac­ter­ized the defense efforts as eleventh-hour, one-sided, extra­ju­di­cial stunts that attempt to obscure facts and rewrite his past.” Texas Governor Greg Abbott has also…

Facts & Research

Recent Legislative Activity

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Mar 13, 2023

LEGISLATION: High Profile Cases in Texas Spur Legislative Activity on the Death Penalty

Prompted by the high-pro­file cas­es of Melissa Lucio, Andre Thomas, and John Ramirez, bills have been intro­duced in the Texas leg­is­la­ture to help pre­vent mis­car­riages of jus­tice. Representative Joe Moody (pic­tured right) has authored two bills, one that would autho­rize Texas pros­e­cu­tors to can­cel sched­uled exe­cu­tions, and anoth­er to facil­i­tate the use of sci­en­tif­ic evi­dence to lessen a person’s sen­tence. Lucio and Thomas both had exe­cu­tion dates, but were grant­ed tem­po­rary reprieves. Lucio…