Entries tagged with “Due Process

Jun 23, 2025

In Unusual Move, Texas Attorney General Requests Execution Date for Robert Roberson Before a Court Has Heard New Evidence of His Actual Innocence

On June 16, 2025, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion in the Anderson County District Court request­ing a new exe­cu­tion date for Robert Roberson, despite the fact that a motion from defense coun­sel with new evi­dence in sup­port of Mr. Roberson’s actu­al inno­cence remains pend­ing. As the *Dallas Morning Editorial Board* notes, it is​“unusu­al” that “\[AG\] Paxton’s office is involved” in request­ing the exe­cu­tion date. AG Paxton has active­ly sought Mr. Roberson’s…

Jun 12, 2025

Counsel for Ralph Menzies Appeal Competency Ruling as State Moves to Set Execution Date

On June 6, 2025, District Judge Matthew Bates issued a rul­ing find­ing Utah death-sen­­tenced pris­on­er Ralph Menzies men­tal­ly com­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed despite con­cerns pre­sent­ed by Mr. Menzies’ attor­neys about his vas­cu­lar demen­tia. In his rul­ing, Judge Bates agreed that Mr. Menzies suf­fers from vas­cu­lar demen­tia but said Mr. Menzies had failed to show​“by a pre­pon­der­ance of the evi­dence that his men­tal con­di­tion pre­vents him from reach­ing a rational…