Execution Watch

04/23/2025

MENDOZA PETITIONS DENIED
BY US SUPREME COURT;
EX*****ON SET TONIGHT

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Ex*****on Watch will broadcast live coverage and legal analysis of the ex*****on of Moises Mendoza in a few hours.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his emergency petition earlier today.

Here is a summary of tonight’s show:
Ex*****on Watch
MOISES MENDOZA
Wed., April 23, 2025
6-7 p.m. Central Standard Time

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

TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE
MOISES MENDOZA, sentenced to death for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder if a Dallas-area woman. He was born in Mexico but lived most of his life in Texas. Mendoza’s appellate lawyers said he received substandard representation at trial. They also accused prosecutors of presenting false testimony during the crucial sentencing phase of the trial. They said Mendoza’s defense attorneys failed to investigate or refute it.

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

LEGAL ANALYSTS
Criminal defense attorneys MEREL PONTIER and MONIQUE SPARKS.

REPORTER
LINDA SNYDER, anti-death penalty activist, reporting from outside the death house in Huntsville.

FEATURED INTERVIEW
JAMILA HODGE, CEO of Equal Justice USA, a national organization that seeks to transform the criminal justice system through community-based solutions to violence. Its goal to knEvangelical Network works to end the death penalty by enlisting influential spiritual leaders to advocate against it and violence of all kinds.

NEXT EX*****ON
Texas’s next planned state killing is May 20, when MATTHEW JOHNSON faces the needle.

Ex*****on Watch is a live 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 Heuvelman
Theme Song, Victoria Studer
Executive Producer, Elizabeth Ann Stein

(End)

03/12/2025

STAY OF EX*****ON GRANTED
DAVID WOOD BY TX COURT

The order came just over 48 hours before David Leonard Wood was set to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday.

02/05/2025

NELSON EX*****ON TO PROCEED; SUPREME COURT NIXES PETITION

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Steven Nelson is slated to be executed within the next couple of hours after the Supreme Court rejected his bid for a stay.

Live news coverage and legal analysis of Nelson’s case will be provided by Ex*****on Watch.

Show Summary:
Ex*****on Watch
STEVEN NELSON
Wed., Feb. 5, 2025
6-7 p.m. Central Standard Time

— VIDEO, check for live video on KPFT’s page: 90.1 FM KPFT Houston. If not streaming, listen listen via…
— RADIO, KPFT Houston 90.1 FM HD or
http://ex*****onwatch.org > Listen.

TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE
STEVEN NELSON, Given the death penalty in 2012 for the suffocation death of a preacher near Dallas during a botched robbery. Defense attorneys asked jurors to spare Nelson's life, saying he was a neglected child who never received the help he needed. They also said he should not face death, because his participation was limited to acting as lookout for two other men while they robbed the church.

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

LEGAL ANALYSTS
Criminal defense attorneys MEREL PONTIER and AFSHIN ZAND.

REPORTER
LINDA SNYDER, anti-death penalty activist, reporting from outside the death house in Huntsville.

FEATURED INTERVIEW GUESTS, Author-activists JODIE AND BILLY SINCLAIR, who met in the Angola State Prison Death House in 198. She was a glamorous TV journalist, he was under death sentence for an unintentional slaying during a robbery. Their secret proxy marriage, 25-year battle to free Billy from prison, and years of activism have generated much material for their books and podcasts.

NEXT EX*****ON
Texas’s next planned state killing is Feb. 13, when Richard Tabler faces the needle.

Ex*****on Watch is a live 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
Livestream Cameras, A.D. Hatton
Board Operator, Bleu Villato
Phones and Traffic, Elise Bentch
Theme Song, Victoria Studer
Executive Producer, Elizabeth Ann Stein

(End)

11/18/2024

DEATH ROW’S HALPRIN TO GET
NEW TRIAL DUE TO BIAS CLAIMS

Texas death row inmate Randy Halprin, who was once part of the "Texas 7" gang of escaped prisoners, is being granted a new trial by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

11/18/2024

JUDGE DECLARES TX DEATH ROW’S
LUCIO “INNOCENT” IN TODDLER DEATH

GATESVILLE, Tx. — The family of Melissa Lucio, a death row inmate whose ex*****on was delayed in 2022, expressed hope that the Texas woman would be freed after a judge concluded last month that Lucio is "actually innocent" after she was convicted of capital murder in 2008 for the death of her 2-ye...

11/15/2024

COURT CLEARS THE WAY
FOR ROBERSON EX*****ON

AUSTIN, Tex. — The ex*****on of Robert Roberson may go ahead, the Texas Supreme Court ruled today.
(https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/15/us/texas-robert-roberson-death-row/index.html)

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday denied a state house committee’s attempt to delay the ex*****on of a man convicted of murder in the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter, clearing a path for a new ex*****on date.

10/19/2024

TEXAS TAKE Column Gives Political
View of Roberson Stay Machinations

AUSTIN, Tex. — Jeremy Wallace’s column in the Houston Chronicle Friday neatly summarized the twisty path that led to a reprieve for Robert Roberson.

He wrote: “Just over two hours before Robert Roberson’s death warrant expired [at midnight], the Texas Supreme Court granted him a temporary reprieve, thanks in large part to an unexpected bipartisan push in the Texas Legislature to delay it.

“It’s the latest twist in an unprecedented legal back-and-forth that raged through the Texas political and legal worlds most of this week and brought international attention to the state’s death penalty laws. The Texas Supreme Court’s unusual intervention came shortly after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a successful motion with the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals to follow through with Roberson’s ex*****on.

“Roberson was condemned in 2002 for the death of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in the East Texas city of Palestine. The murder conviction was tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, a theory that critics now call “junk science.”

“Both Democrats and Republicans made appeals to Gov. Greg Abbott to stay the ex*****on. And even Phillip C. McGraw - better known as Dr. Phil - was taking to social media to call for the ex*****on to be halted.

“Just before the ex*****on was to take place, state Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, and Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, joined forces to have a subpoena issued for him to testify before a committee in the Texas House. They argued before the Texas Supreme Court that the subpoena was within their jurisdiction and that allowing the ex*****on would prevent them from having Roberson testify.

“It worked.

“In the court’s ruling, Justice Evan Young wrote ‘a committee of the Legislature has subpoenaed an inmate subject to a sentence of death to appear as a witness. If the sentence is carried out, the witness obviously cannot appear.’

“How long that reprieve will last isn’t entirely certain, though Roberson will testify before the Texas House on Monday.”

10/18/2024

ROBERSON WINS REPRIEVE
FROM TX SUPREME COURT

Travis County Judge Jessica Mangrum granted a temporary restraining order halting Roberson's ex*****on. The state's top appeals court overturned it soon after.

10/18/2024

TEXAS LEGISLATORS BATTLE
ATTORNEY GENERAL IN
BID TO SAVE ROBERSON

Travis County Judge Jessica Mangrum granted a temporary restraining order halting Roberson's ex*****on. The state's top appeals court overturned it soon after.

10/17/2024

TX Lawmakers Subpoena Roberson —
For Hearing 4 Days After Ex*****on

Advocates of Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson are pleading for the state to halt its plans to execute him Thursday for the murder of his 2-year-old daughter – a crime Roberson says he did not commit.

10/16/2024

TEXAS PREPARES TO EXECUTE
AUTUSTIC MAN IN CASE WHERE
‘SHAKEN BABY’ RAISES DOUBTS

(Hey Gloria—Would you please distribute to the Abolition folks? Thanks. E)

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — The eyes of the world are on Texas as it prepares to execute a man whose autism may have led law enforcement to cast unfair focus on him in his toddler’s death.

If the courts do not block the proceedings, Ex*****on Watch will provide live coverage of the state killing.

P R E V I E W
Ex*****on Watch
ROBERT ROBERSON III
Thurs., Oct. 17, 2024
6-7 p.m. CT

— VIDEO, Facebook Live on Ex*****on Watch, or Houston MediaSource https://www.hmstv.org/hms-live/
— RADIO, KPFT Houston 90.1 FM HD or
http://ex*****onwatch.org > Listen.

TEXAS PLANS TO EXECUTE
ROBERT ROBERSON III, who received the death penalty in 2003 after his conviction in the alleged shaken-baby death of his 2-year-old daughter in East Texas. His attorneys objected when the Oct. 17, 2024, date was set, pledging to file a new request to overturn the conviction, due to questions about the cause of the girl’s death and lack of understanding of Roberson’s autism.

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

LEGAL PANEL
Criminal defense attorneys describe and analyze the case.

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

FEATURED INTERVIEW GUEST
VICTORIA STUDER, sister of death row prisoner Scott Panetti. Activist, entrepreneur and musician, Studer is the creative talent behind Ex*****on Watch’s stirring theme song, “Death by Texas”, which she wrote and recorded.

SPECIAL INTERVIEW GUEST
RICHARD BURR, in private practice in Houston with Burr & Welch, he does exclusively death-penalty defense work. Burr shares his wisdom about the importance of mitigation evidence in persuading jurors to spare the life of a capital defendant.

NEXT EX*****ON
Texas’s next planned state killing is Feb. 5, when Steven Nelson faces the needle.

Ex*****on Watch is a live 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 Director, Mark Pirtle
Technical Director, Otis Maclay
Production Assistant, Mel Peterson
Engineer, Howard Reynolds
Executive Producer, Elizabeth Ann Stein

(End)

10/02/2024

GARCIA WHITE EXECUTED

HUNTSVILLE, Tex.— Garcia White was executed this evening despite pleas for a review of his case based on intellectual disability.

He was pronounced dead at 6:56 p.m.

USA Today posted this coverage:

In what one anti-death penalty group called "extraordinary," six men have been executed in the U.S. since Sept. 20. Two more ex*****ons are set for Oct. 17.