An Extreme Outlier
Race and the Death Penalty in Tarrant County, Texas’s Third-Largest County
Summary
Even compared to the rest of Texas—historically the death penalty capital of the United States— Tarrant County is an extreme outlier in terms of how aggressively its District Attorney’s Office seeks the death penalty. An Extreme Outlier: Race and the Death Penalty in Tarrant County, the Third Largest County in Texas, delves into how Tarrant County, home to Fort Worth and part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, is a major driver of the death penalty in Texas—and nationwide.
At a time when most jurisdictions in Texas and around the country have turned away from the death penalty, Tarrant County prosecutors continue to seek the ultimate punishment at a remarkable rate that disproportionately impacts people from racial and ethnic minority groups. It is time for the Tarrant County DA’s Office to stop harming communities of color by ending its racist practices and focusing on policies that promote public safety for everyone, and in this report, TDS offers four key recommendations for addressing these concerns.
Key Findings From The Report
- Of the 431 capital murder cases charged in Tarrant County over a recent 20-year period, 35% resulted in something other than a homicide conviction.
- Another 10% of defendants got no jail time whatsoever, either because they were sentenced to probation, the DA’s Office dropped the charges, the grand jury rejected the DA’s request to indict, or they were acquitted at trial.
- 67% of the people charged with capital murder who ended up receiving no jail time were Black.
- Eight of the nine people whom a grand jury failed to even indict for capital murder despite the initial charges were Black, and one was Latino.
- All seven people acquitted of capital murder by a jury were Black.
Print and Online News Media
Kamal Morgan, ‘Broken and Deeply Racist.’ Report Criticizes Tarrant Co. in Death Penalty Cases, Fort Worth Star-Telegram (May 5, 2026), https://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/article315627123.html?giftCode=95d10c806cdb905f726772a1136ba6d3d6140df9f54fc0471096c658df4c40f4
Jane Harper, Tarrant County Tops Texas for Death Penalty Trials, Report Finds, Dallas Morning News (May 7, 2026), https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/article/tarrant-county-tops-texas-death-penalty-trials-22246800.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGFsbGFzbmV3cy5jb20vbmV3cy9jb3VydHMvYXJ0aWNsZS90YXJyYW50LWNvdW50eS10b3BzLXRleGFzLWRlYXRoLXBlbmFsdHktdHJpYWxzLTIyMjQ2ODAwLnBocA%3D%3D&time=MTc3ODI1NDg4MDMyMA%3D%3D&rid=N2VkNjg2ZmItZTcyNi00NjhjLWE1NTQtNzcxNmEwNDEwZWI3&sharecount=MQ%3D%3D
Penelope Rivera, ‘An Extreme Outlier’: Group Accuses Tarrant County DA of Seeking Death Penalty Against Minorities, KERA News (May 7, 2026), https://www.keranews.org/news/2026-05-07/an-extreme-outlier-group-accuses-tarrant-county-da-of-seeking-death-penalty-against-minorities
Kamal Morgan, Tarrant Faith Leaders Denounce Racial Disparity in Death Penalty Cases, Fort Worth Star-Telegram (May 7, 2026), https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/article315660828.html?giftCode=bb9b3984db34dc95bb754b3a5b198d7ee746f2d854eebfbb88c94ede88692895
Kira Yuha Cho, Racial Bias in Tarrant County’s Death Penalty System Exposed in New Report, Davis Vanguard (May 7, 2026), https://davisvanguard.org/2026/05/tarrant-county-death-penalty-racism/
Emma Ruby, Tarrant County Advocates Protest Court’s Discriminatory Overuse of Death Penalty, Dallas Observer (May 8, 2026), https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/tarrant-county-leaders-protest-death-penalty-40672028/
Richard Dawson, Fort Worth Faith Leaders Rip DA Over ‘Death Row Machine’, Hoodline Dallas (May 8, 2026), https://hoodline.com/2026/05/fort-worth-faith-leaders-rip-da-over-death-row-machine/
Craig Nash, Faith Leaders Press Tarrant County DA on Death Penalty Practices, Good Faith Media (May 11, 2026), https://goodfaithmedia.org/faith-leaders-press-tarrant-county-da-on-death-penalty-practices/
Multimedia
Study Finds Racial Gap in Tarrant Co., Texas Death Penalty, Unfiltered with Roland Martin (May 6, 2026), https://www.youtube.com/live/b0Z1clg8bsg?t=5124s
Notable Social Media and News Aggregators
Facebook post by Sister Helen Prejean
Hola Texas Newsletter (on file)