Texas Defender

Texas Defender
It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way

It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way

Dear Supporters, In Texas, people can be convicted of murder and sentenced to death for crimes committed by other people. That’s possible under Texas’s incredibly harsh Law of Parties. As we explained in our last email, Texas’s Law of Parties allows prosecutors to charge people with crimes committed by someone else as a “party”—even if they […]

Our New Report on Extreme Racial Disparities in Harris County’s Use of the Death Penalty

Our New Report on Extreme Racial Disparities in Harris County’s Use of the Death Penalty

Dear Supporters, My name is Estelle Hebron-Jones, and I am the Director of Special Projects at Texas Defender Service, a role that I stepped into in December of last year after five years as an attorney at TDS.  On behalf of TDS, I am thrilled to share with you our latest report, titled Arbitrary and Capricious: Examining Racial […]

Save the Date for TDS’s 2024 Light of Justice Luncheon Featuring Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah!

Save the Date for TDS’s 2024 Light of Justice Luncheon Featuring Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah!

Dear Friends, Dear Friends,Please save the date for Texas Defender Service’s 2024 Light of Justice Luncheon, featuring New York Times bestselling novelist Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. Our Light of Justice Luncheon will be held on October 22, 2024 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Houston, Texas. Adjei-Brenyah’s novel Chain Gang All-Stars was a finalist for the National Book Award and was named a New York Times Top Ten […]

Convicted of Crimes Committed by Another

Convicted of Crimes Committed by Another

Dear Supporters, The promise of the American legal system is that people will be held accountable for their own actions. In Texas, we fail to follow through on that promise.  Under Texas’s Law of the Parties, people are  spending decades prison—and have even been sentenced to death and executed—because they were convicted of crimes committed by other people. […]

Bringing a Human Perspective to the Game

Bringing a Human Perspective to the Game

Dear Supporters, As we enter the winter season and embark on this time of reflection and thanks-giving, I wanted to share a video about our team at Texas Defender Service. These are the people who dedicate their careers to saving lives and reuniting families here in Texas, the epicenter of mass incarceration on the planet. This year alone, our […]