Entries tagged with “Terence Andrus”
Policy Issues
Mental Illness
,Representation
,United States Supreme Court
,Dec 06, 2021
Advocacy Groups Call on Supreme Court to Summarily Reverse Texas Death-Penalty Decision that Flouted Earlier Court Guidance
Organizations advocating for the rights of abused children and those with mental illness and for fair process are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to, for a second time, summarily reverse a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) decision that upheld the death sentence imposed on Terence Andrus (pictured) despite defense counsel’s failure to investigate and present a “tidal wave” of available mitigating evidence in the penalty phase of his capital…
Policy Issues
Representation
,United States Supreme Court
,Jun 14, 2022
After Initially Reversing Decision, Supreme Court Refuses to Review Texas Case of Gross Attorney Ineffectiveness a Second Time
The United States Supreme Court has declined to review a case in which the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) flouted a previous Supreme Court ruling by denying relief to a death-row prisoner a second time after the Court had returned the case with directions to further consider defense counsel’s failure to investigate and present a “tidal wave” of available mitigating evidence in the penalty phase of his capital…
Policy Issues
Representation
,United States Supreme Court
,Jan 05, 2022
Former U.S. Solicitor General: Supreme Court Must ‘Uphold the Rule of Law’ that Texas Courts Ignored in Death Penalty Case
A former conservative federal judge and U.S. Solicitor General has called on the United States Supreme Court to vacate a ruling by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) that allowed a Texas death sentence to stand in the face of an earlier Supreme Court ruling that defense counsel had unreasonably failed to present a “tidal wave” of “compelling mitigating…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,Representation
,Feb 01, 2023
Texas Death Row Prisoner Commits Suicide
On January 21, 2023, Texas death row prisoner Terence Andrus hanged himself at the age of 34, a little more than 6 months after the U.S. Supreme Court denied review of his case for a second time. His lawyer, Gretchen Sween, told the Los Angeles Times that “he’d been careening toward the abyss,” since their decision. “He was…
Policy Issues
Representation
,United States Supreme Court
,Jun 17, 2020
U.S. Supreme Court Orders Texas Court to Reconsider Case of Inadequate Representation
By a vote of 6 – 3, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) ruling upholding the death sentence imposed on Terence Andrus (pictured). The Court held that Andrus’ counsel had provided substandard representation in the penalty-phase of his trial, and directed the TCCA to determine whether counsel’s deficient performance may have affected the jury’s sentencing…