Southwest
Texas lawmaker proposes bill to abolish death penalty in Lone Star State: 'I think sentiment is changing'
A Texas state lawmaker has introduced legislation to eliminate the death penalty in the state amid a high-profile death row case currently unfolding.
Democrat state Rep. John Bucy III filed the bill for the upcoming legislative session.
“I think I’ve been opposed to the death penalty my whole life as I’ve thought about its use, and should it exist in our society,” Bucy said, according to Fox 7.
“Financially, if you just want to look at it economically, we spend more money to execute than to keep someone in prison, so it’s really a lose-lose situation with a high risk stake if we get it wrong,” he continued.
TEXAS DEATH ROW INMATE’S LAWYER SAYS ‘THERE WAS NO CRIME’ AS SHE MAKES LAST-DITCH EFFORT TO SAVE HIS LIFE
Photo shows the gurney in the execution chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
This comes after the Texas Supreme Court cleared the way last week for the state to schedule a new execution date for inmate Robert Roberson, whose initial execution was delayed last month.
Roberson is currently on death row over his conviction in which prosecutors say he killed his two-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, by shaking her to death, known as shaken baby syndrome. But his lawyers say Nikki actually died from other health issues such as pneumonia and that new evidence proves his innocence. His lawyers also said doctors had failed to rule out these other medical explanations for the child’s symptoms.
Roberson was scheduled to be put to death on Oct. 17 before the state Supreme Court issued a stay to delay his execution shortly before it was set to take place.
If he is put to death, he would be the first person in the U.S. to be executed in a case based on shaken baby syndrome.
More than 80 Texas state lawmakers, as well as the detective who helped the prosecution, medical experts, parental rights groups, human rights groups, bestselling novelist John Grisham and other advocates have called for the state to grant Roberson clemency over the belief that he is innocent. A group of state lawmakers have also visited Roberson in prison to encourage him.
“I feel like I’ve gotten more engaged with this Robert Roberson case and wanted to make sure that we’re continuing this conversation about the lack of humanity tied to the death penalty,” Bucy said.
Texas lawmakers meet with Robert Roberson at a prison in Livingston, Texas, Sept. 27, 2024. (Criminal Justice Reform Caucus via AP)
Texas has executed nearly 600 people since 1982, according to Texas Coalition to Abolish The Death Penalty executive director Kristin Houle Cuellar.
“Which is far more than any other state in the nation,” Houle Cuellar told Fox 7. “We have quite a reputation when it comes to the use of the death penalty in Texas.”
Houle Cuellar said that there have been fewer death sentences in the state in the last decade, which she partially attributes to the introduction in 2005 of life without parole.
“Prosecutors have used that discretion in opting not to seek the death penalty,” Houle Cuellar said. “Even in about 30 percent of the cases that they’ve taken to trial where they’ve sought the death penalty, jurors have rejected it.”
Houle Cuellar said that Harris, Dallas, Tarrant and Bexar counties lead the state in death sentences and more than half of all Texas counties have never issued a death sentence.
Since 2007, multiple Texas lawmakers have unsuccessfully sought to abolish the death penalty. But Bucy says there is now enough momentum regarding the issue to reintroduce legislation to eliminate the practice.
TEXAS JUDGE GRANTS INJUNCTION AHEAD OF MAN’S EXECUTION IN ‘SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME’ CASE
The execution bed sits empty on Death Row on April 25, 1997 at Texas Death Row in Huntsville, Texas. (Getty Images)
“While it’s an uphill battle to end the death penalty in Texas, we’ve seen the number of executions go down,” he said. “I think sentiment is changing, and I also think as we see these specific cases come to life, and we start learning the specific stories, people are going to get more and more concerned about the possibility of getting it wrong.”
State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt and state Rep. Joe Moody, both Democrats, have filed similar bills to abolish the death penalty, which will need to be voted on by fellow lawmakers when the legislative session begins early next year.
In another Texas death row case, a judge found last month that Melissa Lucio was innocent in the 2007 death of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah. Senior State District Judge Arturo Nelson recommended that Lucio’s conviction and death sentence be overturned. The judge also found that prosecutors suppressed evidence and testimony, including statements from Lucio’s other children, that could support the claim that she was not abusive and that Mariah’s death was accidental from falling down the stairs.
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Long Beach will hold a pride festival this weekend after the one they originally had scheduled was canceled.
Long Beach city officials said the celebration was nixed after the nonprofit that organizes it, Long Beach Pride, failed to submit the required information for an event permit.
It was supposed to start on Friday and last through Sunday.
“Despite continued collaboration and multiple deadline notices, the City did not receive the required documentation needed to complete safety reviews, inspect critical event infrastructure, such as the stage, electrical systems and tent, and emergency exiting plans to ensure compliance with public safety standards,” the city of Long Beach said in a statement. “With event programming scheduled to begin on May 15 at 5 p.m. with Teen Pride and essential information still outstanding, there is no longer sufficient time to safely permit the festival this year.”
Officials noted that they were working to see if a “shortened event” could be held this weekend, and indeed, an agreement was reached to stage a one-day gathering on Sunday.
Billed as “Canceled? Never Heard of Her!” and emceed by comedian and drag queen Jewels, it will still bring the city’s LGBTQ community together after Sunday morning’s Long Beach Pride Parade, which was not canceled.
“Long Beach Pride weekend is a culmination of celebrations put on by our community, including our many vibrant restaurants, bars and businesses, and that will never change,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said in a press release issued late Saturday night. “Along with the Pride Parade, we are proud to join the party with this new event that reaffirms what this City has always stood for: that every person belongs here.”
“The festival may have been canceled, but Long Beach drag artists don’t cancel joy,” added Jewels Long Beach.
The one-day “Canceled? Never Heard of Her!” festival will take place at Bixby Park from noon to 7 p.m. Sunday. A free event, it will include music by several performers and a drag show.
More information can be found here.
Los Angeles, Ca
L.A. Jewish institution among targets of foiled terrorist attack, U.S. officials say
A Jewish institution in Los Angeles was among the locations targeted in a recently foiled terrorism plot, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton announced this week.
The thwarted terrorist attacks were the result of the recent arrest of Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, an Iraqi national and senior member of Kata’ib Hizballah, U.S. officials said.
“Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, a commander for the terrorist organization, Kata’ib Hizballah, faces serious charges for his role in numerous attacks against U.S. interests across the globe, including his efforts to kill on U.S. soil,” Clayton said. “As alleged, for years, Al-Saadi committed himself to furthering the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hizballah and the IRGC, two terrorist organizations dedicated to harming the United States and its allies.”
Al-Saadi recently attempted to carry out attacks in the U.S., officials said, including attacks at Jewish cultural places of interest in New York, Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Ariz.
“Al-Saadi attempted to disrupt American society through intimidation and violence,” a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office reads. “… Those who engage in or support terrorism against Americans and on U.S. soil should take note: the whole of the federal government is committed to dismantling terrorist organizations and bringing their members to justice.”
In a three-month period, Al-Saadi allegedly directed 18 terrorist attacks throughout Europe, including bombings, arson, and assaults targeting American citizens and points of interest. Prior to his arrest, national security officials say he was planning similar attacks on U.S. soil. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said that Al-Saadi “presented a serious threat to our national security.”
The European attacks included the bombing of the Bank of New York Mellon, an American bank, in Amsterdam on March 15. On April 29, two Jewish men, one of whom was a dual U.S.-British citizen, were stabbed and seriously injured in London.
In 2020, Al-Saadi took to social media, calling for others to attack and kill Americans in retribution for the deaths of Iranian military officer Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi military commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, U.S. officials said. In more recent months, Al-Saadi allegedly used social media to encourage the killing of Americans and Jews to further the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hizballah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“In or about February 2026, for example, AL-SAADI posted on one of his social media accounts a message in Arabic, which read in part, ‘Do not abandon the blood of your Imam of the time, oh Shiites of Iraq. Kill everyone who supports America and Israel. Do not leave any of them remaining. Civil and military targets, as well as voices of discord, kill them everywhere.’” U.S. officials said.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch confirmed that one of the U.S. targets was a Manhattan synagogue. On April 3, Al-Saadi allegedly spoke to an undercover law enforcement officer whom Al-Saadi believed could carry out attacks in the U.S. That same day, Al-Saadi allegedly texted the undercover officers photographs and maps showing the exact location of a prominent Jewish synagogue in New York City.
Officials have not said what specific locations in L.A. and Arizona were targeted by the terrorist group.
Al-Saadi now faces numerous charges for these crimes in U.S. court. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.
The case is under investigation by the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is comprised of investigators and analysts from the FBI, the NYPD, the FBI Washington Field Office, Counterterrorism Division, and more than 50 other federal, state, and local agencies. Investigators also received help from the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, Counterterrorism Section, the Office of International Affairs of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
A man armed with a knife was shot by L.A. police officers responding to an assault with a deadly weapon call overnight, authorities said.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, officers with the Hollenbeck Division responded to an apartment complex in the 3000 block of Glenn Avenue in Boyle Heights at 1:45 a.m. Saturday after callers reported a male suspect was armed with a knife and had just assaulted someone in the complex.
Arriving officers found the suspect in front of the residence, but he did not comply with officers’ commands to drop the weapon. He then advanced toward the officers and an officer-involved shooting occurred, LAPD confirmed.
“The suspect was struck by gunfire and remained non-compliant,” the LAPD Public Information Officer said on X early Saturday morning. “Officers deployed a 40mm foam round and ultimately took the suspect into custody.”
Video obtained by KTLA shows the man being loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital; officials said he was transported in stable condition, adding that his knife was recovered at the scene and booked as evidence.
No officers or community members were injured during the incident. The man’s name was not released.
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