{"id":782539,"date":"2026-05-08T18:49:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T18:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/782539\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T18:49:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T18:49:23","slug":"fort-worth-faith-leaders-protest-discriminatory-death-penalty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/782539\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth Faith Leaders Protest Discriminatory Death Penalty"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tEstelle Hebron-Jones, the director of special projects for the Texas Defender Service, addressed the media on May 7 about a new report on Tarrant County’s use of the death penalty. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Emma Ruby<\/p>\n

Next week, the state of Texas is likely to carry out its second execution in three weeks.<\/a> Edward Busby Jr. has been on death row for 21 years, having been found guilty of abducting and killing a TCU professor in 2005.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Busby\u2019s execution date looms over a group of North Texas advocates, lawyers and faith leaders, who argue that his intellectual disability should make him immune to the state\u2019s pursuit of capital punishment. He is also a stark reminder of the way Tarrant County officials have cemented the county\u2019s legacy as a death row hardliner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since 2020, Tarrant County courts have hosted 23% of death penalty trials statewide, despite the county accounting for only 7% of Texas\u2019 population. In the last two years, that number has ballooned to 42% of the state\u2019s capital punishment cases. Tarrant County has the most death penalty trials<\/a> per capita out of the state\u2019s 10 largest counties, beating out the next highest county by more than twice as many trials.<\/p>\n

The sobering data was revealed in the newly released report<\/a> \u201cAn Extreme Outlier,\u201d which was published this week by the Texas Defender Service.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhile I know most people aren\u2019t thinking about the death penalty in the day-to-day, this report isn\u2019t historical. It\u2019s very current,\u201d said Estelle Hebron-Jones, the director of special projects for the Texas Defender Service, during a press conference on Thursday. \u201c[Tarrant County] represents an outsized influence on what\u2019s happening with capital punishment in Texas.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Worrying to Hebron-Jones is what the report revealed about the way race interacts with Tarrant County\u2019s decision to seek capital punishment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Since 2020, Tarrant County has accounted for 23% of death penalty trials in Texas, despite only containing 7% of the state\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

This trend has only worsened. Since 2024, Tarrant County has accounted for 42% of death penalty trials in Texas.#EndTheDeathPenalty<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Texas Defender Service (@TexDefender) May 4, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Defendants who are sent to death row by Tarrant County juries are overwhelmingly Black, the report found. Since 2012, six Black men have been sentenced to death in Tarrant County (another three faced the death penalty but were sentenced to life without parole), while one Latino and one Native American received the same punishment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two white men have been sent to death row by Tarrant County in that time, the most recent of whom, Tanner Horner, was sentenced on Tuesday.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Minority defendants are also significantly more likely to face \u201cupcharging,\u201d a strategy where the defense attorney\u2019s office intentionally seeks capital murder charges even when not supported by evidence. In Texas, capital murder is the only charge that can lead to a capital punishment sentence, and the report claims that the \u201cinsidious\u201d practice of upcharging is an attempt to coerce guilty pleas from defendants hoping to avoid death row.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over the last 20 years, 10% of the 431 capital murder cases charged in Tarrant County resulted in no jail time whatsoever, the report found. Another third failed to result in a homicide conviction. Of those who faced capital murder charges but served no jail time \u2014 whether because the charges were dropped or a jury failed to indict the defendant of the crime \u2014 67% were Black.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pattern is clear that race is very much playing a role in the outcomes of these cases,\u201d said Hebron-Jones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In response to the report, 14 faith leaders from across Fort Worth signed on to a letter that was delivered to the Tarrant County District Attorney\u2019s Office on Thursday, condemning the continued, aggressive pursuit of the death penalty \u201cand the racial disparities in its use.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"courthouseThe Ten Commandments are posted near the steps of the Tarrant County Courthouse. <\/p>\n

One signatory, Rev. Ryon Price of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, has been an outspoken critic of the Tarrant County jail. Since 2017, at least 74 inmates have died while incarcerated. In protesting the jail\u2019s conditions, Price has found himself on the receiving end of a year-long ban<\/a> from the Tarrant County Commissioners\u2019 Court for speaking for eight seconds over his allotted time about the jail deaths.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Price characterized the death penalty as a \u201ccruel and unnecessarily vindictive form of punishment\u201d that he stands against as a Christian.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[The death penalty] violates both the constitutional right to life and the basic dignity of all human beings, including even those human beings who have taken the life of their fellow human beings. Taking life for life betrays the very sacredness of life itself,\u201d Price said. \u201cThe state of Texas continues unabated in its disturbing and overzealous deployment of the death penalty \u2026 Sadly, our own Tarrant County leads the charge.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The faith leaders and advocates are urging<\/a> the Tarrant County District Attorney\u2019s Office to follow the recommendations in the Texas Defender Service study, including implementing policies that address racial discrimination in charging and committing to end upcharging.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It also asks that prosecutors end the practice of seeking the death penalty in cases where an unplanned murder results from a robbery or burglary, and to create a racial justice dashboard that includes data and the results of an independent audit of the office\u2019s practices.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese types of punishments don\u2019t lead to crimes going down \u2026 they just lead to scapegoats. Scapegoats like the crucified,\u201d said Rev. Jeremy Williams, a professor at TCU\u2019s Brite Divinity School and the director of the Center for Theology and Justice. \u201cSome may say this is not their issue, but they\u2019re doing it in your name, on your behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n

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