Entries tagged with “Rigoberto Avila”
Issues
Mar 31, 2020
Texas Appeals Court Rejects Recommendation for New Trial for Death-Row Prisoner
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) has once again rejected the findings of a trial court that a death-row prisoner was entitled to relief from his conviction or death sentence. Applying a narrow interpretation of a 2013 junk-science law, the court on March 11, 2020 set aside the recommendation of an El Paso County trial court that death-row prisoner Rigoberto Avila should be granted a new trial as a result of the prosecution’s reliance on false and outdated scientific evidence. The…
Issues
Mar 11, 2020
News Brief — Texas Appeals Court Rejects Recommendation for New Trial for Rigoberto Avila
NEWS (3/11/20): The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) has rejected the recommendation of an El Paso County trial court that death-row prisoner Rigoberto Avila should be granted a new trial as a result of the prosecution’s reliance on false and outdated scientific evidence. Avila was sentenced to death for the alleged murder of a 19-month-old infant based upon what he contended was false expert testimony that he had abused the child. The TCCA stayed Avila’s execution in January 2014 based…
Issues
Oct 10, 2018
Texas Courts Rule for Two Death-Row Prisoners on Intellectual Disability, Junk-Science Claims
Two Texas prisoners took steps away from death row as state courts ruled in their favor on issues involving false or faulty scientific evidence and argument. On October 5, 2018, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) granted a stay of execution to Juan Segundo (pictured, left), directing a Tarrant County trial court to reconsider a claim of intellectual disability that the courts had previously rejected based on an unconstitutional, unscientific standard for measuring his functioning. Four…