Texas Defender Service (TDS)

06/17/2026

A federal judge compared the use of nitrogen hypoxia with barbaric ex*****on methods that haunted the imagination of the framers of the constitution. Alabama wants to use it to execute Jeff Lee.

Read more at:

To put it plainly, nitrogen hypoxia kills by starving someone of the oxygen needed to sustain life

06/15/2026

Update on Roberson's innocence case: His attys have filed written arguments & a motion requesting a hearing in the district court; his case was remanded in Oct 2025 to consider whether he deserved relief under Ex parte Roark. Here's the motion:

06/15/2026

When the juror later learned a judge had overturned the recommendation and sentenced Lee to death, it felt devastating, the juror said. “That was my first time realizing that I had wasted my time serving on a jury."

Read more at:

Jeffery Lee faces ex*****on Thursday because a judge overturned a jury’s vote for a life sentence under a since-abolished procedure called judicial override.

06/12/2026

Since 1976, clemency has been grant­ed for human­i­tar­i­an rea­sons to 369 peo­ple sen­tenced to death, while 1,669 peo­ple have been executed.

Learn more about clemency here:

DPI’s ​“What to Know” series exam­ines cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment from mul­ti­ple angles, one top­ic at a time. Each install­ment pro­vides essen­tial facts...

06/09/2026

Check out Cory Session's important new op-ed in The Barbed Wire about TDS's report on Tarrant County and its extreme use of the death penalty.

A new report concludes Tarrant County is an “extreme outlier” in its unfair targeting of racial and ethnic minorities for the death penalty.

06/08/2026

'This “troubling case history…by the same district attorney in the same judicial district” was well known when Mr. Pitchford’s case reached the Mississippi Supreme Court.'

Read more of Equal Justice Initiative's article here:

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Terry Pitchford.

06/03/2026

The men wrongfully convicted in the Yogurt Shop Murders have finally received financial compensation from the Austin City Council, which unanimously approved the settlement.

The Austin City Council unanimously approved $35 million settlement for the four men wrongly accused in the infamous Yogurt Shop Murders.

05/28/2026

"Police hypnotized a witness. Now a Texas man faces death.

My honest error once put a man in prison. Now I’m fighting for another innocent."

Read the full article here:

My honest error once sent a man to prison. Now I’m fighting to save another innocent man.

05/21/2026

"...it is an eye-opening report, and it is right here in my own backyard."

Incredible op-ed by Cory Session covering our Tarrant County report.

Read more:

A new report concludes Tarrant County is an “extreme outlier” in its unfair targeting of racial and ethnic minorities for the death penalty.

05/19/2026

Texas banned hypnosis in criminal cases but a man on death row says it helped convict him.

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/testimony-from-witness-that-had-been-hypnotized-helped-send-man-to-death-row-263546949868

Charles Flores sits on death row in Texas, convicted with the help of testimony from a witness that had been hypnotized in the days after her murder. Since then, Texas banned hypnosis in criminal investigations. Flores tells NBC News’ Dan Slepian he’s innocent.

Charles Flores sits on death row in Texas, convicted with the help of testimony from a witness that had been hypnotized in the days after her murder. Since then, Texas banned hypnosis in criminal investigations. Flores tells NBC News’ Dan Slepian he’s innocent.