Texas Defender Service

We fight for the end of mass incarceration and excessive punishment in Texas through direct representation, policy reform, and public education.

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

Whether Tennessee tries to execute Christa Pike again is an open question. Here’s why. https://t.co/ogBIwkIgt7

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

Pope Leo XIV calls the death penalty ‘inadmissible’ after announcement of public execution in US. https://t.co/35rUJ7L0Lw

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

According to the Innocence Project, 30% of the U.S. Hispanic population is not proficient in English. Language barriers can contribute to false confessions and make it more difficult for defendants to prove their innocence. https://t.co/dkoyoFDncS

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

We are so proud to share an exciting new resource to help people understand the parole revocation process, prepare for hearings, and advocate for themselves when facing possible parole revocation! Please check it out at  https://t.co/d5ZZ8k9qsL.

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

We often see how systems have failed people with intellectual disability long before their first interaction with criminal-legal institutions. Since 2018, Texas Defender Service has helped save seven people with intellectual disability from execution. https://t.co/aVLUAlxcxl

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

A federal judge ordered the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to install air conditioning in every state prison by the end of 2029. 

https://t.co/FzuEjpEjBj

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

Christa Pike could be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. Her supporters say she has changed in isolation; her victim’s family wants her to die. #EndTheDeathPenalty https://t.co/Yuj0tgFWq8

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

Last week, Ker’Sean Olajuwa Ramey was executed at 41 years old, making him the sixth person executed in Texas this year. He was 20 years old at the time of his crime. His last words were thanking his "brothers on Texas death row who grew up with him."

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

Pike's attorneys have requested an all-female execution team for September 30, citing Pike's documented history of sexual abuse by men and her post-traumatic stress disorder, the New York Post reported. https://t.co/vhn9HVEhmE

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

"Only five coun­ties in the entire United States — one-fifth of one per­cent — sen­tenced a per­son under age 21 at offense to death between 2020 and 2025." Read more here: https://t.co/hFPvrTiFXk

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

Today, Melissa Lucio was denied relief from wrongful conviction. In 2024, Judge Nelson found that Lucio was innocent of killing her daughter & ruled in her favor on all claims. The court concluded, “no rational juror would convict Ms. Lucio.” 

More info: https://t.co/2IPIzub4o1

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

Christa Pike was 18 when she was sentenced to death for murder. According a neurology professor, Christa “experienced more severe adverse events than 99% of the US population."  Read more here:
https://t.co/drCT4cYSY8

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

California Has One-Quarter of All the Nation’s Death Sentences. Will Newsom Commute Them All? Read More Here: https://t.co/FS1ohZGBTf

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

A first-of-its-kind law­suit chal­leng­ing California’s death penal­ty on sys­temic racial grounds has cleared an ini­tial hur­dle at the California Supreme Court. https://t.co/za091RIrzW

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

Watch the KVUE report on TDS client Michael Highfill here: "Travis County man asks judge to reconsider his capital murder conviction after 26 years." https://t.co/r5UTo70uVd

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

Travis County District Attorney's Office on TDS client Michael Highfill:  "We believe the evidence shows that the co-defendant acted alone and Mr. Highfill was not culpable.” Read more: https://t.co/yhAccY5atx

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

After more than 26 years behind bars, Michael Highfill is challenging his capital murder conviction in the 1998 killing of Luis Flores, and the Travis County District Attorney’s Office now agrees he is entitled to relief. https://t.co/HIHdIy3zrK

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

Ohio Gov. DeWine used clemency authority to issue 1 commutation to Greg Lott, formerly on death row. He should do more for the other 106 people on death row. https://t.co/dv4gACAq0y

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

Solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. 115-degree heat. Jimmie Duncan is haunted by the decades he spent on death row in Angola prison — and how, even after being released, he still isn’t truly free. https://t.co/PgVHwJIvKy

[Texas Defender Service @TexDefender]

A Black man once sentenced to death for murder fights for freedom after discovering his attorney defended the Ku Klux Klan.
 https://t.co/Cu0CsPNHL0