Capital Punishment

The Killing Joke

Sara Hickman: Injecting Music Into the Death Penalty Debate

"World Day Against The Death Penalty" Passes Quietly In Houston

Shaka's Last Supper

He wouldn't eat it, so they did!

Death Row Show

The media makes causes of more and more capital murder convicts. Meanwhile, John Albert Burks dies almost unnoticed, just another inmate moving along on the efficient execution assembly line of Texas justice.

Knowing Right from Wrong

Did Johnny Penry's abusive childhood prevent him from developing a moral compass that might have stopped him from murdering Pam Carpenter? Or is he just another cold, calculating killer?

No Death Penalties This Year For The Death-Penalty Capital Of America (That's Us)

Did Johnny Penry's abusive childhood prevent him from developing a moral compass that might have stopped him from murdering Pam Carpenter? Or is he just another cold, calculating killer?

This Guy Gets Cell Phone Service On Death Row

Did Johnny Penry's abusive childhood prevent him from developing a moral compass that might have stopped him from murdering Pam Carpenter? Or is he just another cold, calculating killer?

The Nation Notices Harris County Ain't Killing People Much These Days

We first broke the news in October; the Houston Chronicle noticed it earlier this month, and now Time magazine has discovered it: There will be no one sent to Death Row from Harris County this year.Which, in historical terms, is kind of like saying Texas high schools will not be sending anyone to bi ... More >>

The Evil and the Stupid

Reactionary and racist, Just Cause is just too dumb to get worked up about

Death and Doubts

Dead Man Walking finds no easy answers to the hard questions of capital punishment

Dead Woman Walking

Sharon Stone's Last Dance has good intentions, and absolutely awful timing

Rough Justice

Last week Anthony Ray Westley was executed for a murder he may not have committed. Only his lawyer and family seemed to care.

Capital Irony

As Governor Bush reviews the case of Henry Lee Lucas, a local lawyer casts a jaundiced eye

Riding the Rap

A new book chronicles the bloody rise and fall of Death Row Records

Of Life and Death

While Erica Sheppard sits on death row, penniless and convicted of a gruesome Houston murder, her cadre of elite Dallas lawyers is trying to prove that the justice system has gone fatally awry

A Killer By Any Other Name

Walt Waldhauser who became Michael Lee Davis may be headed back to prison

Media Row on Death Row

Will proposed media rules stifle coverage of convicts facing execution?

Best Lawyer

Richard Burr

Blessed and Bewildered

Recent debacles demonstrate why District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal needs more than a moustache to match the legacy of Johnny Holmes

Former Death-Row Inmate Sent Back to Prison

Martin Draughon returns to the clink after becoming a test case for alleged flaws in GPS monitoring devices

"Julie Green: The Last Supper"

Julie Green's "Last Supper" will take away your appetite

No Pain, No Gain

Our solution for saving Texas's claim to capital punishment fame

The Icebox Revisited

Houston had one of its most shocking race murders 45 years ago. But exactly whose tragedy was it?

Best Champion of the Underdog

Texas Defender Service

Bench Blues

The judiciary starts scrambling after state cuts in visiting judges

A Guarded Past

Texas's impressive new prison museum engages in a little escapism of its own

Doing Justice

Plus: Olympic Bid; Allah 1, Christ 0; Paris Is Burning?

Justice for Some

Just who is a victim? After flexing its muscles to reform the justice system, the victims’ rights movement suffers growing pains over divisive issues.

An Absolute Maybe

There's little doubt that Johnnie Bernal was not a really good guy. The question remains, though, how bad was he?

Lethal Legacy

Yates isn't dying to prove the equity of Harris County executions

Executing the Truth in Ads

Just who is behind the McVeigh ads is called into question

Injecting Fun into Death Row

If your condemned convicts survive, you thrive in this game

The Private Trial of Donald Davis

A Houston attorney who specialized in saving killers' lives couldn't handle his own. So he took it.

Final Passages

The Reverend Carroll Pickett leaves a grim 15-year legacy of very personal ministry: Granting the last wishes of inmates, moments before their execution

Hanging with Mr. X

Quanell comes on strong at Graham's execution, then vanishes

Well Executed

Mr. Death comes alive in a disturbing documentary by Errol Morris

Stand Up and Holler

A Huntsville execution draws a strange crowd

Death Row Goes on a Hunger Strike

But does anyone care?

Death (Row) Watch

Odell Barnes joins a growing list of death row inmates whose convictions have become a lot less clear-cut during the appeals process.

Killing Time

The case against him died from lack of evidence. But Texas still plans to execute Odell Barnes.

Queen of the Good Ol' Boys

The macho world of trial law is ruled by tough, hard-driving men -- and by Katherine Scardino, a tough, hard-driving woman

Amnesty International Begins 200-Minute Vigil Against The Death Penalty

Amnesty International has just begun a 200-minute vigil outside the Harris County Criminal Courthouse to protest the upcoming 200th execution under Governor Rick Perry.The original rally title, "Help Rick Perry Win The GOP Primary," was apparently discarded.But holding an anti-death-penalty vigil in ... More >>

We're No. 1! (In Executions)

Photo by Katharine ShilcuttA death penalty protest march was held last week in downtown Austin.​In its 2009 Death Penalty and Executions report released today, Amnesty International calls Texas the "worst offender," because -- with 24 executions -- it leads the country in the number of people ... More >>

Execution Drug In Short Supply; How Will Texas Cope?

Texas doesn't make rookie mistakes when it comes to the death penalty​The Arizona Republic reports today that a planned execution in Ohio almost had to delay a recent execution because of a shortage of thiopental sodium, the drug used for lethal injections. Arizona, it said, might be unable to do ... More >>

David Kaczynski: Unabomber's Brother Campaigns Against Death Penalty

Photo by Craig MalisowDavid Kaczynski hasn't heard from Ted lately​Once you become forever known as "The Unabomber's Brother," there are probably two ways you can go: you can do your best to hide (say, maybe move to a cozy, isolated cabin in Montana?) or you can use your position to further a caus ... More >>

The Death Penalty Is Totally Passe These Days, Group Finds

She ain't getting as much use as she's used to​Harris County, you used to be cool. You sent more people to Death Row than most countries. And were damn proud of it, too. Now, the death penalty is a forgotten memory of another time, the go-go `80s and `90s when brash prosecutors racked up exec ... More >>

ACLU: When Facing Death, Lizards Are Treated More Humanely Than Humans

Does Cleve Foster deserve a death at least as humane as that of a lizard? The ACLU thinks so.​The pets of those on death row would be treated more humanely than their owners, if the animals were sitting in the execution chamber instead of them. According to a report released by the American C ... More >>

George C. Denkowski: "Dr. Death Penalty" Won't Be Filling Up Death Row Anymore

Death Row cases take another hit.​George C. Denkowski, the forensic psychologist who's been driving capital-murder defense lawyers crazy for years, is no longer allowed to send convicts to Death Row. Denkowski was reprimanded by the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists and agreed n ... More >>

Death Penalty Is Going Out of Style, New Report Says

Texas is still doing its part​America, you just ain't the criminal-killin' place you used to be. A new report from the Death Penalty Information Center says that for the first time since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, less than 100 executions took place in the U.S. There have bee ... More >>