On June 12, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) held that for­mer death row inmate Jerry Hartfield has been held in prison for 33 years despite hav­ing no valid con­vic­tion. The court con­clud­ed: ​“The sta­tus of the judg­ment of con­vic­tion is that Petitioner is under no con­vic­tion or sen­tence.” Hartfield, an illit­er­ate man with an IQ of 51, had his cap­i­tal con­vic­tion over­turned by the same court in 1980 because his tri­al jury was improp­er­ly select­ed. The court ordered a new tri­al for Hartfield, but that tri­al was nev­er held. In 1983, then-Governor Mark White attempt­ed to com­mute Hartfield’s death sen­tence to life, but the CCA’s recent rul­ing said the com­mu­ta­tion was invalid because Hartfield had no con­vic­tion and hence, no sen­tence. He has remained in prison – not con­vict­ed of any crime – the entire time. The CCA’s rul­ing was prompt­ed by a request from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which is con­sid­er­ing Hartfield’s peti­tion for release through habeas cor­pus. The 5th Circuit called Texas’s defense of the unlaw­ful incar­cer­a­tion ​“dis­turbing­ly unpro­fes­sion­al.” Texas has indi­cat­ed it may attempt to retry Hartfield, but that deci­sion would like­ly be chal­lenged as a vio­la­tion of his con­sti­tu­tion­al right to a speedy trial.

Hartfield is now 57. He was orig­i­nal­ly con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death for the 1976 rob­bery and killing of a bus station employee.

(“Court: Texas inmate’s decades-old sen­tence invalid,” Associated Press, June 12, 2013; Hartfield v. Thaler, No. AP-76,926, CCA, June 12, 2013). Read the CCA opin­ion. See Innocence.

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