Arbitrariness
,Innocence
,Race
,Representation
,United States Supreme Court
,Lethal Injection
,Apr 26, 2021
NEWS (4/21 – 4/23/21) — Texas: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled against Texas death-row prisoners in three separate capital appeals. On April 23, a split panel of the court …
Mental Illness
,Recent Legislative Activity
,Apr 10, 2023
An editorial in the Dallas Morning News urges the Texas legislature to pass a bill to ban the death penalty for people with severe mental illness, stating, it “seems like an obvious decision in a decent society.” House Bill 727, sponsored…
Mental Illness
,Race
,Jun 06, 2018
A severely mentally ill Texas death-row prisoner who gouged out his eyes and ate one of them has asked a federal appeals court to allow him to appeal a lower court decision that upheld his conviction and death sentence and found t…
Race
,United States Supreme Court
,Jan 06, 2022
On January 6, 1959, Richard and Mildred Loving were convicted on felony charges of “miscegenation” under Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act, which criminalized interracial marriage. The trial court sentenced them to …
Recent Legislative Activity
,Mar 13, 2023
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…
Mental Illness
,New Voices
,Mar 17, 2023
In an op-ed for the National Review, psychiatrist Sally Satel writes, “No civilized or lawful purpose is served by executing the severely mentally ill.” Satel is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and she highlights the deficits…
Mental Illness
,Race
,Feb 19, 2013
Texas death-row inmate Andre Thomas has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and auditory hallucinations drove him to gouge out both of his eyes. Nevertheless, prosecutors still believe he should be execute…
Mental Illness
,Race
,Feb 11, 2020
Andre Thomas (pictured) is a Texas death-row prisoner riven with schizophrenia so severe that, in separate incidents, he gouged out both of his eyes and ate one of them. The U.S. Court of Appeals heard oral argume…
Mental Illness
,Race
,Nov 29, 2022
Texas is planning to execute a seriously mentally ill prisoner who has gouged out both of his eyes because of his paranoid schizophrenia. On November 7, 2022, the District Court of Grayson County, Texas set an April 5, 2023 execution date for
Intellectual Disability
,Mental Illness
,Mar 08, 2023
A Grayson County, Texas court has withdrawn the April 5, 2023 execution date for Andre Thomas (pictured), a seriously mentally ill prisoner whose legal team requested more time to demonstrate that Thomas is incompetent to be executed. While incarc…
Mental Illness
,Race
,Oct 18, 2022
With three justices dissenting, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case of Texas death-row prisoner Andre Thomas, who was sentenced to death by jurors who admitted to racial bias. In a…
Intellectual Disability
,Mental Illness
,Feb 20, 2023
The cases of two defendants facing imminent execution raise concerns about the appropriateness of death sentences for those with severe mental illness or sharply-limiting mental disabilities. Andre Thomas is scheduled for execution on April 5, 2…
