Upcoming Executions
Click for a list of upcoming scheduled executions in Texas.
Innocence
The death penalty puts innocent people at risk of execution.
Todd Willingham
Todd Willingham was wrongfully executed under Governor Rick Perry on February 17, 2004.

The Texas Democratic Party and the Texas Republican Party will hold precinct conventions on March 2 at 7:15 PM. The Democratic precinct conventions are open to anyone who votes in the 2010 Texas Democratic primary and the Republican precinct conventions are open to anyone who votes in the Republican primary. People attending the conventions can take resolutions to the conventions and they will be voted on. If they pass at the precinct conventions, they go to the county or senatorial district conventions on March 20, and if they are approved on March 20, they will go to the state convention in June for consideration. We got the Texas Democratic Party to pass a moratorium resolution at the state convention in 2004 and to include support for a moratorium in the TDP platform in 2004, 2006 and 2008.

You can read drafts of two proposed resolutions below. Feel free to use them as is, change them or write your own versions. The important thing is to take some sort of anti-death penalty resolution to your precinct convention and get it approved. We would like as many different
senatorial conventions to approve resolutions as possible, so forward them to people across the state to get good geographical distribution.

In 2008, the resolutions committee at the Texas Democratic Party State Convention approved a resolution to abolish the death penalty, but the resolution did not get taken up by the floor of the convention before the convention adjourned. But it was a major success to get the abolition resolution approved by the committee.

The TDP state convention this year is in Corpus Christi June 25th and 26th. The first step to being a state convention delegate is to attend your precinct convention on March 2.

If you attend the precinct conventions, you can try to get elected a delegate to the senatorial district convention and then to the state convention.

There will be a “Democrats Against the Death Penalty” caucus meeting at the TDP State Convention. The caucus was started in 2004 by Scott Cobb. In 2008, there was a record overflow turnout at the caucus of probably 300 people.

Texas Democratic Party Resolution Calling for a Moratorium on Executions 
WHEREAS Texas leads the nation in executions with 449 since 1982 (as of February 1, 2010). The frequency of executions and inadequacies in our criminal justice system increase the risk that an innocent person will be executed and because the execution of an innocent person by the State of Texas would be a grave injustice and would undermine public confidence in our criminal justice system; and
WHEREAS there is a significant risk that innocence cases in Texas are not being discovered, and innocent persons both reside on death row and could be wrongly executed in a system of capital punishment that often escapes governmental scrutiny and meaningful judicial review; and

WHEREAS an innocent person may already have been executed by Texas. The Chicago Tribune reported on December 9, 2004 that a Corsicana, Texas man named Cameron Todd Willingham may have been innocent of the arson/murder for which he was executed on February 17, 2004. A state-funded report commissioned by the Texas Forensic Science Commission written by fire expert Dr Craig Beyler said that “a finding of arson could not be sustained” in the Willingham case. Beyler said that key testimony from a fire marshal at Willingham’s trial was “hardly consistent with a scientific mind-set and is more characteristic of mystics or psychics”; and

WHEREAS Rick Perry received information prior to the execution of Todd Willingham that cast serious doubt on the scientific validity of forensic evidence used to convict Willingham, but Perry refused to issue a 30 day stay of execution to give more time for the evidence to be analyzed; and
WHEREAS Rick Perry interfered with an investigation into the Willingham case when he replaced the chair and all of his gubernatorial appointees to the Texas Forensic Science Commission only days before a scheduled hearing about a report submitted to the commission by Dr Craig Beyler; and
WHEREAS the Houston Chronicle reported on November 19, 2005 that a San Antonio man named Ruben Cantu may have been innocent of the crime for which he was executed on August 24, 1993 and the Chicago Tribune reported on June 24, 2006 that a Corpus Christi man named Carlos De Luna may have been innocent of the crime for which he was executed on December 7 1989; and

WHEREAS eleven people have been exonerated of murder and released from Texas Death Row and 139 people have been exonerated and released from death rows in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in the 1970’s; and

WHEREAS local taxpayers can be faced with the financial burden of settling lawsuits when innocent people are wrongfully convicted or executed because of problems in the criminal justice system; and
WHEREAS seeking a death sentence costs three times more than the cost of seeking life without parole.

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Texas Democratic Party supports a moratorium on executions and the creation of a “Texas Capital Punishment Commission” to study the administration of capital punishment in Texas to correct any injustices or unfair processes that are found in the administration of the death penalty and to study how to eliminate the risk of innocent people being convicted and executed.

Texas Democratic Party Resolution to Abolish the Death Penalty

Whereas the death penalty system is a human system that makes errors;
Whereas Texas has sent innocent people to death row;
Whereas it is impossible to correct the error of a wrongful conviction once someone has been executed;
Whereas Texas as of 2005 has life without parole as an alternative to the death penalty;
Whereas the death penalty is applied unevenly throughout the state of Texas;
Whereas the death penalty discriminates against the poor and racial minorities;
Whereas the death penalty does not deter others from committing violent crime;
Whereas the death penalty costs 2 to 3 times more to implement than life without parole;
Therefore be it resolved that the Texas Democratic Party supports abolishing the death penalty in Texas and using the money saved by abolition to help victims of crime and to implement crime prevention measures that are truly effective.

Texas Republican Party Resolution Calling for a Moratorium on Executions

WHEREAS Texas leads the nation in executions with 449 since 1982 (as of February 1, 2010). The frequency of executions and inadequacies in our criminal justice system increase the risk that an innocent person will be executed and because the execution of an innocent person by the State of Texas would be a grave injustice and would undermine public confidence in our criminal justice system; and
WHEREAS there is a significant risk that innocence cases in Texas are not being discovered, and innocent persons both reside on death row and could be wrongly executed in a system of capital punishment that often escapes governmental scrutiny and meaningful judicial review; and

WHEREAS an innocent person may already have been executed by Texas. The Chicago Tribune reported on December 9, 2004 that a Corsicana, Texas man named Cameron Todd Willingham may have been innocent of the arson/murder for which he was executed on February 17, 2004. A state-funded report commissioned by the Texas Forensic Science Commission written by fire expert Dr Craig Beyler said that “a finding of arson could not be sustained” in the Willingham case. Beyler said that key testimony from a fire marshal at Willingham’s trial was “hardly consistent with a scientific mind-set and is more characteristic of mystics or psychics”; and

WHEREAS Rick Perry received information prior to the execution of Todd Willingham that cast serious doubt on the scientific validity of forensic evidence used to convict Willingham, but Perry refused to issue a 30 day stay of execution to give more time for the evidence to be analyzed; and
WHEREAS Rick Perry interfered with an investigation into the Willingham case when he replaced the chair and all of his gubernatorial appointees to the Texas Forensic Science Commission only days before a scheduled hearing about a report submitted to the commission by Dr Craig Beyler; and
WHEREAS the Houston Chronicle reported on November 19, 2005 that a San Antonio man named Ruben Cantu may have been innocent of the crime for which he was executed on August 24, 1993 and the Chicago Tribune reported on June 24, 2006 that a Corpus Christi man named Carlos De Luna may have been innocent of the crime for which he was executed on December 7 1989; and

WHEREAS eleven people have been exonerated of murder and released from Texas Death Row and 139 people have been exonerated and released from death rows in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in the 1970’s; and

WHEREAS local taxpayers can be faced with the financial burden of settling lawsuits when innocent people are wrongfully convicted or executed because of problems in the criminal justice system; and
WHEREAS seeking a death sentence costs three times more than the cost of seeking life without parole.

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Texas Republican Party supports a moratorium on executions and the creation of a “Texas Capital Punishment Commission” to study the administration of capital punishment in Texas to correct any injustices or unfair processes that are found in the administration of the death penalty and to study how to eliminate the risk of innocent people being convicted and executed.

Texas Republican Party Resolution to Abolish the Death Penalty
Whereas the death penalty system is a human system that makes errors;
Whereas Texas has sent innocent people to death row;
Whereas it is impossible to correct the error of a wrongful conviction once someone has been executed;
Whereas Texas as of 2005 has life without parole as an alternative to the death penalty;
Whereas the death penalty is applied unevenly throughout the state of Texas;
Whereas the death penalty discriminates against the poor and racial minorities;
Whereas the death penalty does not deter others from committing violent crime;
Whereas the death penalty costs 2 to 3 times more to implement than life without parole;
Therefore be it resolved that the Texas Republican Party supports abolishing the death penalty in Texas and using the money saved by abolition to help victims of crime and to implement crime prevention measures that are truly effective.

David R. Dow is professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center and an internationally recognized figure in the fight against the death penalty. He is the founder and director of the Texas Innocence Network. He lives in Houston, Texas.  His new book is “The Autobiography of an Execution” (Click to buy on Amazon) 


As a lawyer, David R. Dow has represented over 100 death row cases. Many of his clients have died. Most were guilty. Some might have been innocent. The Autobiography of an Execution is his deeply personal story about justice, death penalty, and a lawyer’s life.

It is a chronicle of a life lived at paradoxical extremes: Witnessing executions and then coming home to the loving embrace of his wife and young son, who inquire about his day. Waging moral battles on behalf of people who have committed abhorrent crimes. Fighting for life in America’s death penalty capital, within a criminal justice system full of indifferent and ineffectual judges. Racing against time on behalf of clients who have no more time. 


Upcoming Book Signings by David Dow

Monday, February 15th – Brazos Bookstore – Houston, TX
Wednesday, February 17th – Books & Books – Miami, FL
Tuesday, February 23rd – Book People – Austin, TX
Wednesday, February 24th – Barnes & Noble – San Antonio, TX
Saturday, February 27th – Politics & Prose – Washington, DC

Excerpt from New York Times review by Dahlia Lithwick:

Throughout the book, Dow toggles back and forth between his capital cases and life with his wife and 6-year-old son in Houston. They have certain expectations of him: SpongeBob, T-ball practice, trick-or-treating. Sometimes he misses these things to witness another execution. Then he launders his clothes (always in a wash of their own) and joins the family for dinner. Readers who don’t care about his son’s T-ball practices or his wife’s dance classes may find this background distracting, but for Dow his family is a lifeline back from the death chamber. It can’t be a coincidence that in a book about the brutal reality of capital punishment there is — in addition to the bourbon and cigars — a piece of steak, a rare hamburger, a piece of grass-fed sirloin or a roasted chicken on just about every other page. Dow isn’t doing high constitutional theory here; this is pure red meat. What Dow exposes in this dark, raw memoir is not just a dispassionate machinery of death that cannot be slowed, reversed or mediated by truth, logic or fact. He also exposes the inner life of a man who, in the face of all that, cannot give up the fight.

Nobody but Dow could have told Dow’s story. The problem is, he cannot fully tell it either. As he explains in an author’s note at the start of the book, the demands of attorney-client confidentiality have forced him to use pseudonyms, attribute procedural details of certain cases to other cases, and alter the timing of some events, though he insists that the “basic chronology” is correct — and that he never changed the facts of the crimes. His publisher appends a letter explaining why this was done and a memorandum from an ethics professor explaining the legal basis for this choice. Whatever the legal issues, the result is a book that is less an autobiography of an execution than a powerful collage of the life of a death penalty lawyer.

In describing the fraught relationship between law and truth, Dow laments the fact that when it comes to the law, “the facts matter, but the story matters more.” But having created a brilliant, heart-rending book that can’t be properly fact-checked, Dow almost seems to have joined the ranks of people who will privilege emotion over detail, and narrative over precision.

For those who already oppose the death penalty, Dow’s book provides searing confirmation of what they already know to be true: the capital system is biased, reckless and inhuman. But had a prosecutor written a book arguing that the machinery of death is fantastic, just trust him, Dow himself would weep for strict adherence to facts, however ungainly. We’ve seen too many books lately suggesting that facts and sourcing matter little. It isn’t a trend to which lawyers should contribute.

Hank Skinner February 24 (Strong Innocence Case) 


Michael Sigala March 2

Joshua Maxwell March 11

Alix Franklin March 30

Samuel Bustamante April 20

William Berkley April 22


John Alba May 25

Johathan Green June 30

Michael Perry July 1

Sarah Palin made an appearance in Texas today at a campaign rally for Rick Perry and the Austin American-Statesman interviewed one person in the crowd who said he supported Palin, but according to the Statesman reporter “would not back Perry because he believes Perry allowed the state to execute an innocent man”.

The controversy over Todd Willingham’s execution and Rick Perry’s cover-up of the investigation looking into whether the forensic evidence used to convict him was scientifically valid could hurt Rick Perry’s re-election prospects, but it depends how Perry’s opponents talk about the controversy in their own campaigns.

Judith Simon of Katy, who work a pink “Palin Power” T-shirt, said she finds the former governor authentic. “When I listen to Sarah Palin, I hear truth and sincerity coming through her. When you’re used to hearing the truth, you recognize the truth.”
Simon also said she supports Perry. But her husband James, a fellow Palin fan, said he would not back Perry because he believes Perry allowed the state to execute an innocent man.
He was referring to Cameron Todd Willingham, whom the state put to death in 2004 for starting a house fire that killed his wife and children. An arson expert found in a report for a state commission that the investigation that led to Willingham’s conviction was deeply flawed.
Asked whom he would support in the primary, James Simon said, “How do I say this politely? None of your business.”

The Texas Observer reports that Bill White does not support a moratorium on executions, but Farouk Shami does support a moratorium. The Texas Democratic Party platform endorsed a moratorium in 2004, 2006 and 2008.

Farouk Shami understands that a moratorium is the best way to ensure that Texas does not execute an innocent person and can enact reforms to protect innocent people from being executed, “If elected Governor, Farouk Shami would place a moratorium on the death penalty to evaluate these issues and convene a panel of experts to make recommendations on how to reform the death penalty to make it truly fair, if it can indeed be reformed.”

From Shami’s website:


Seriously Evaluate the Use of the Death Penalty

The death penalty, as it is currently implemented, has a number of serious problems.  The most important of these problems is the potential that an innocent person could be put to death.  We must absolutely ensure, at every stage of appeal, potentially exculpatory evidence, particularly forensic and DNA evidence, is admissible and taken very seriously.  We must expand the power of the Governor’s office to act as a check on the judicial system and convert the sentence to life in prison with no chance of parole.  Another problem with the death penalty as it currently is used in Texas is the racial bias in its sentencing.  A black or Hispanic male is far more likely to receive the death penalty than a white male is for committing the same crime.  If elected Governor, Farouk Shami would place a moratorium on the death penalty to evaluate these issues and convene a panel of experts to make recommendations on how to reform the death penalty to make it truly fair, if it can indeed be reformed.

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