Rio Texas Methodist Federation for Social Action

Scheduled executions

• On October 15, the State of Texas is scheduled to execute Larry Hatten for the 1995 shooting death of 5-year-old Isaac Jackson in Corpus Christi. Jackson was killed while in bed with his mother, Tabatha Thompson, who was also severely injured.  Hatten reportedly suffers from mental illness and has been forcibly medicated at times while incarcerated.  Earlier this year he decided to forego any further appeals in his case.
• On October 28, the State of Texas is scheduled to execute Miguel Paredes, who was convicted in San Antonio in 2000 for the murders of Adrian Torres, Nelly Bravo, and Shawn Michael Caine.  He was 18 years old at the time of the crime. After Paredes and his two accomplices shot the three victims, they took their bodies to Frio County, where they set them on fire.  His two co-defendants are serving life sentences. Read an interview with Paredes that appears in The Baptist Standard.

To date in 2014, Texas has executed nine people, out of 30 executions nationwide.  The Texas Department of Criminal Justice still refuses to identify the source of the drug used in executions.

Attend a vigil in your community on the day of executions. Updates on these cases will be posted on the TCADP website, as well as Facebook and Twitter.

Events Around the State

Austin: Columbia Law School Professor James S. Liebman will appear at the Texas Book Festival in Austin on Sunday, October 26th at 3:30 PM in the CSPAN location to discuss his book about the wrongful execution of Carlos DeLuna, The Wrong Carlos: Anatomy of a Wrongful Execution. Mike Farrell will be moderating.  More details coming soon.

Irving: TCADP volunteers will assist the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty (CMN) with an information table at the University of Dallas Ministry Conference, taking place in Irving from October 23rd to 25th.  CMN’s Sister Ilaria Buanriposi will provide three workshops on the death penalty and restorative justice during the conference.