Texas Defender Service (TDS)

10/09/2026

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 ex*****on.

Texas Defender Service advocates for people with intellectual disability who face the death penalty, fighting to ensure constitutional protections are applied in Texas.

10/07/2026

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

A federal court has ordered Texas to air condition every state prison by the end of 2029 after years of advocacy by incarcerated people, lawyers, and organizations including Lioness.

10/05/2026

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.

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.

10/02/2026

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."

09/30/2026

Pike's attorneys have requested an all-female ex*****on team for her scheduled ex*****on on September 30, citing Pike's documented history of sexual abuse by men and her post-traumatic stress disorder, the New York Post reported. If her ex*****on goes forward, Pike would become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.

With just days remaining before her scheduled ex*****on, Christa Pike has made a special request. She has asked Tennessee officials to keep men off the team that would carry out her ex*****on, should ...

09/28/2026

"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:

The death penal­ty has been uncon­sti­tu­tion­al for juve­niles since 2005, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that peo­ple under age 18 lack the impulse...

09/24/2026

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:

Melissa Lucio was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for the accidental death of her daughter.

09/23/2026

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:

Take Action for Christa Sign Christa's Petition Here Visit Mercy for Christa to Learn More Case Background Listen to the Unrestorable Podcast When Tennessee sentenced Christa Pike to death on March 30th, 1996, for a crime she committed as an eighteen-year-old, she became the youngest woman to receiv...

09/21/2026

California Has One-Quarter of All the Nation’s Death Sentences. Will Newsom Commute Them All? Read More Here:

Governor Gavin Newsom, nearing the end of his gubernatorial tenure in January, faces demands from advocacy groups to commute California's remaining death sentences. These demands are predicated on long-standing criticisms of the state's capital punishment system, encompassing its operational dysfunc...

09/10/2026

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

Michael Highfill is asking a Travis County judge to reconsider his capital murder conviction after more than 26 years in prison.