Execution Watch

15/05/2026

TEXAS EXECUTES BUSBY AFTER
SCOTUS ELIMINATES HIS STAY

A man who experts said was intellectually disabled has become the 600th person executed in Texas since the state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1982. Edward Busby Jr. received a lethal...

14/05/2026

U.S. SUPREME COURT LIFTS STAY;
TEXAS TO EXECUTE BUSBY

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Texas prepared to execute Edward Busby this evening after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled at the 11th hour that his temporary stay should be lifted.

It will be a somber milestone — Texas’s 600th ex*****on in 42 years.

Ex*****on Watch will carry live coverage of the ex*****on 6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Central Time. The show will include an interview with Busby that Ex*****on Watch taped recently on death row.

Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Jackson dissented from the decision, writing: “In capital cases, we rarely intervene to preserve life. I cannot understand the Court’s rush to extinguish it, much less in the circumstances of this case.”

The ruling was released just before 5 p.m. Central Time. Texas ex*****ons start at 6 p.m.

Late last week, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted Busby a temporary stay for his ex*****on date on the grounds the 53-year-old is intellectually disabled.

The Texas attorney general’s office quickly asked the high court to vacate the decision.

30/04/2026

HIGH COURT NIXES RAPPER BROADNAX’S
REQUEST FOR STAY OF EX*****ON

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Final preparations were under way at the Lone Star State’s death house to carry out the ex*****on of James Broadnax at 6 p.m. CT after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his petition for a delay.

12/03/2026

TEXAS EXECUTES CEDRIC RICKS

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Cedric Ricks was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. CT after the state injected him with a deliberate drug overdose.

He is the sixth prisoner executed in the U.S. in 2026 and the second in Texas.

11/03/2026

EX*****ON WATCH TO COVER
STATE KILLING OF CEDRIC RICKS

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Cedric Ricks is awaiting his ex*****on in several hours after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down his bid for a stay.

Ex*****on Watch will provide live news coverage and analysis of the state killing in Texas, starting at 6 pm Central Time.

Video will stream on Facebook Live, with audio broadcast over KPFT Houston 90.1 FM HD, streaming at https://kpft.org/listen-live-hd1/ or https://ex*****onwatch.org > Listen.

TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE
CEDRIC RICKS, Condemned to death in the 2013 slayings of his girlfriend and her son in Bedford, Texas. Ricks testified on his own behalf during the punishment phase of his trial, when the jury chooses between life in prison or death. His attorneys complained that black women were excluded from the jury, which was purposely allowed to see Ricks in shackles, and that he was rehabilitated in prison. Jurors deliberated seven hours before deciding he should be executed. Previously, the panel met less than an hour before voting to convict. THE U.S. Supreme Court turned down his 11th-hour request to delay the ex*****on.

HOST
MARLO BLUE, program director, KPFT; producer; video photographer; editor; anchor emeritus, KPFT Local News.

LEGAL ANALYST
Criminal defense attorney PAT McCANN..

REPORTER
LINDA SNYDER, anti-death penalty activist on the scene outside the death house in Huntsville.

FEATURED INTERVIEW GUEST
PROF. JOHN H. BLUME, who teaches at Cornell Law School and directs of the Cornell Death Penalty Project. He has litigated more than 100 capital cases at trial and argued eight cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Prof. Blume has published numerous books, chapters, and law review articles in the fields of capital punishment, habeas corpus, criminal procedure and evidence.

NEXT EX*****ON
Texas’s next planned state killing is April 30, when James Broadnax is slated to face the needle.

Ex*****on Watch is a live, all-volunteer news show that since 2008 has broadcast coverage of all Texas ex*****ons. More information — podcasts, videos, scheduled ex*****ons — is at http://ex*****onwatch.org. For updates follow us on Facebook.

Additional credits:
Video Supervisor, Mark Pirtle
Technical Director, Otis Maclay
Engineer, Howard Reynolds
Social Media, Elise Bentch & Elyse Huevelman
Theme Song, Victoria Studer
Intern, Mayanna Lee
Executive Producer, Elizabeth Ann Stein

28/01/2026

HIGH COURT DENIES THOMPSON

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — The U.S. Supreme Court turned down Charles Thompson’s request for a stay in a single-sentence ruling that gave no reasons for the denial.

Thompson’s ex*****on will proceed as scheduled at 6 p.m. Central Daylight Time.

28/01/2026

TEXAS PREPARES TO EXECUTE THOMPSON

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — The U.S. Supreme Court is mulling Charles Thompson’s application for a stay at this hour, even as Texas prison officials prepare to execute him.

Unless a stay is granted, Ex*****on Watch will provide live news coverage and legal analysis of the state killing in Texas:

S H O W R U N D O W N
Ex*****on Watch
CHARLES THOMPSON
WED., Jan. 28, 2026
6-7 p.m. Central Daylight Time

— VIDEO, Facebook Live, John Pirtle
— RADIO, KPFT Houston 90.1 FM HD https://kpft.org/listen-live-hd1/ or
https://ex*****onwatch.org > Listen.

TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE
CHARLES THOMPSON, sentenced to death in 1999 after a jury convicted him in the slayings of his ex-girlfriend and her new lover. Thompson admitted to the shootings but claimed the hospital was responsible for the death of his ex several days later. He escaped in 2005 from the Harris County Jail while being sentenced to death for a second time. He was picked up four days later in Shreveport, Louisiana. Thompson’s Jan. 28, 2026, death date was the first during the tenure of Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare.

HOST
MARLO BLUE, program director, KPFT; producer, video photographer, editor, and former anchor of KPFT Local News.

LEGAL ANALYSTS
Criminal defense attorneys PAT McCANN and MEREL PONTIER.

REPORTER
JOY McFADDEN, anti-death penalty activist, reporting from outside the death house in Huntsville.

CLINTON YOUNG will share a few words.

FEATURED INTERVIEW GUEST
KERI BLAKINGER is a reporter for ProPublica, covering criminal justice with a focus on prisons and the death penalty. Her coverage of the criminal justice system, which goes back more than a decade, has changed laws, overturned policies and won recognition. In 2024, her story about the Dungeons & Dragons players of Texas death row was named a Pulitzer finalist in feature writing.

NEXT EX*****ON
Texas’s next planned state killing is March 11, when Cedric Ricks will face the needle.

Ex*****on Watch is a live, all-volunteer news show that since 2008 has broadcast coverage of all Texas ex*****ons. More information — podcasts, videos, scheduled ex*****ons — is at http://ex*****onwatch.org. For updates follow us on Facebook.

Additional credits:
Video Supervisor, Mark Pirtle
Technical Director, Otis Maclay
Engineer, Howard Reynolds
Social Media, Elise Bentch & Elyse Huevelman
Theme Song, Victoria Studer
Intern, Max Schoones
Executive Producer, Elizabeth Ann Stein

27/01/2026

THOMPSON SCHEDULED FOR EX*****ON WEDNESDAY

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — The State of Texas is preparing to execute Charles Thompson on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026.

Barring a stay, Ex*****on Watch will provide live news coverage and analysis.

PREVIEW
Ex*****on Watch
CHARLES THOMPSON
WED., Jan. 28, 2026
6-7 p.m. Central Daylight Time

— VIDEO, Facebook Live.
— RADIO, KPFT Houston 90.1 FM HD https://kpft.org/listen-live-hd1/ or
https://ex*****onwatch.org > Listen.

TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE
CHARLES THOMPSON, sentenced to death in 1999 after a jury convicted him in the slayings of his ex-girlfriend and her new lover. Thompson admitted to the shootings but claimed the hospital was responsible for the death of his ex several days later. He escaped in 2005 from the Harris County Jail while being sentenced to death for a second time. He was picked up four days later in Shreveport, Louisiana. Thompson’s Jan. 28, 2026, death date was the first during the tenure of Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare.

HOST
MARLO BLUE, program director, KPFT; producer, video photographer, editor, and former anchor of KPFT Local News.

LEGAL ANALYSTS
Criminal defense attorneys PAT McCANN and MEREL PONTIER.

REPORTER
JOY McFADDEN, anti-death penalty activist, reporting from outside the death house in Huntsville.

CLINTON YOUNG will share a few words.

FEATURED INTERVIEW GUEST
KERI BLAKINGER is a reporter for Pro Publica, where she covers criminal justice with a focus on prisons and the death penalty. Her coverage of the criminal justice system goes back more than a decade. Blakinger’s work has changed laws, overturned policies and won recognition. In 2024, her story about the Dungeons & Dragons players of Texas death row was named a Pulitzer finalist in feature writing.

NEXT EX*****ON
Texas’s next planned state killing is March 11, when Cedric Ricks will face the needle..

Ex*****on Watch is a live, all-volunteer news show that since 2008 has broadcast coverage of all Texas ex*****ons. More information — podcasts, videos, scheduled ex*****ons — is at http://ex*****onwatch.org. For updates follow us on Facebook.

Additional credits:
Video Supervisor, Mark Pirtle
Technical Director, Otis Maclay
Engineer, Howard Reynolds
Social Media, Elise Bentch & Elyse Huevelman
Theme Song, Victoria Studer
Intern, Max Schoones
Executive Producer, Elizabeth Ann Stein