A retri­al date of Sept. 22 has been set for Jerry Hartfield, who has been held with­out a valid con­vic­tion in Texas for over 30 years. Hartfield was con­vict­ed of mur­der in 1977 and sen­tenced to death. His con­vic­tion was over­turned in 1980 due to an improp­er­ly select­ed jury, and the appeals court ordered a new tri­al, but that was nev­er held. Gov. Mark White attempt­ed to com­mute his sen­tence in 1983, but with­out a con­vic­tion, the com­mu­ta­tion was invalid. In 2013, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that ​“The sta­tus of the judg­ment of con­vic­tion is that Petitioner is under no con­vic­tion or sen­tence.” A fed­er­al court called Texas’s defense of Hartfield’s unlaw­ful incar­cer­a­tion ​“dis­turbing­ly unpro­fes­sion­al.” The new tri­al judge sched­uled a July 2 hear­ing to con­sid­er a request from pros­e­cu­tors to con­duct psy­cho­log­i­cal test­ing on Hartfield, who is described in court doc­u­ments as ​“an illit­er­ate fifth-grade dropout with an IQ of 51.” The Matagorda County District Attorney has offered Hartfield a deal to plead guilty, accept a life prison term and avoid a poten­tial death sen­tence if he waives all rights to future appeals. Hartfield’s lawyers assert that his right to a speedy tri­al has been violated.

(“New tri­al set for man in Texas prison 30 years,” The Eagle, June 18, 2014). See Arbitrariness and Time on Death Row.

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