Texas Criminal Defense Archives

Last minute postponement of Texas execution

Forty-one-year-old convicted killer Robert James Campbell would have been the first executed by lethal injection after a botched execution in Oklahoma, but Campbell lived to see another day after the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily halted his scheduled execution on grounds that he could be mentally impaired, The Dallas Morning News reported on May 13. Campbell’s attorneys […] Read more

Jury finds drifter guilty of capital murder

On Monday, April 2 a jury in Val Verde County, Texas found Tommy Lynn Sells guilty of capital murder for the death of a 13-year-old girl and the serious injuries of a 10-year-old girl. According to evidence from the prosecution, 13-year-old Kaylene Harris died after being attacked with a knife. Her body was found with […] Read more

Pistorius murder trial continues in Pretoria

Evidence against Olympic runner, Oscar Pistorius, has developed during the first week of his trial. Pistorius has been charged with premeditated murder for shooting and killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, 29. A neighbor told the Pretoria court that she heard “blood-curdling screams” coming from Pistorius’s house the night that Steenkamp was found dead. Two others […] Read more

U.S. Attorney General seeks death penalty for boston bombing suspect

On Thursday, January 30 U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that he will seek the death penalty for the 20-year-old Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokar Tsarnaev. Tsarnaev plead not guilty to the charges brought against him. The Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, 2013 resulted in the death of 3 victims and the injury of […] Read more