HB 2267 will be heard in the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, Thursday, May 21, at 1:30 PM or upon adjournment of the Senate.
This is the law of parties bill by Rep Terri Hodge and Rep Harold Dutton, recently renamed the Kenneth Foster, Jr Act. It would require separate trials in capital cases and would prohibit the state from seeking the death penalty against co-defendants in Law of Parties cases if they are not the person who actually killed someone.
Please come to the hearing and sign a Witness Affirmation Form in in favor of HB 2267.
The hearing will be in room E1.014.
If you can not attend the hearing, then call the offices of the Committee members and urge them to vote in favor of HB 2267.
Please call Texas State Senators and Urge Them to Vote for HB 2267
If you live in Texas, click here to find out who your state senator is.
After you have first called your own state senator, move on to calling the members of the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice (Listed below).
After you call the committee members, just start calling any or all of the other state senators from this list.
Sample Message (change it to your own words) “Hello, I am calling to urge Senator X to vote in favor of HB 2267, the “Kenneth Foster, Jr Act”. It has already been approved by the Texas House of Representatives. HB 2267 would require separate trials for co-defendants in capital trials and would prohibit the state from seeking the death penalty for people who do not kill anyone but are convicted under the Law of Parties. I do not believe it is fair to sentence someone to death, like Kenneth Foster was, if they did not kill anyone.
The Law of Parties allows people who “should have anticipated” a murder to receive the death penalty for the actions of another person who killed someone. A person sentenced to death under the Law of Parties has not killed anyone. They are accomplices or co-conspirators of one felony, such as robbery, during which another person killed someone, but a person should not be executed for the actions of another person.
Thank you and call your state senator today!
Members of the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
Chair, John Whitmire
Phone: (512) 463-0115
Email Form
Vice-Chair, Kel Seliger
Phone:(512)463-0131
Email Form
John Carona
Phone:(512) 463-0116
Email Form
Rodney Ellis
Phone:(512) 463-0113
Email Form
Glenn Hegar
Phone: (512) 463-0118
Email Form
Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (He is the Senate sponsor, so no need to call him)
Phone: (512) 463-0120
Email Form
Dan Patrick
Phone:(512) 463-0107
Email Form
