It Started With Our Clients

Texas Defender | Posted on August 31, 2026 |

Hi Friends of TDS,

I’m not a numbers guy. I became a lawyer for a reason—pouring over spreadsheets and statistics is not usually how I want to spend my time. But even though digging through data isn’t for me, I know when the numbers aren’t adding up.

And it was clear from the start that there was a problem with the data on capital sentencing in Tarrant County. That’s why I came up with the idea to write Texas Defender Service’s most recent report, An Extreme Outlier: Race and the Death Penalty in Tarrant County.

But this report didn’t start as a research project; it started with our clients.

Over the past several years, TDS has represented people facing capital charges in Tarrant County, and we kept noticing that prosecutors aggressively sought the death penalty against people from racial and ethnic minority groups.

So I started paying closer attention, pulling court records, and submitting Public Information Act requests. And what I saw in the numbers alarmed me.

That’s when TDS decided to go all in on this report. With the help of our partners, we looked at data from 431 capital murder cases charged in Tarrant County over 20 years. What we found confirmed that the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office is “overcharging” defendants, applying the most serious charges where the evidence didn’t warrant it. This practice ties people to convictions and sentences that are much harsher than what the evidence supports, often causing lasting damage and can ruin a person’s life.

And when we looked at who was most affected, the racial disparities were impossible to ignore. Two out of every three people charged with capital murder who ended up serving no time were Black. Every single person acquitted by a jury was Black.

I helped write this report because my clients deserved to have their experiences taken seriously. And because the Tarrant County DA’s Office needs to answer for what the numbers show.

If you haven’t yet, I hope you’ll read the full report here. You can also watch the press conference, where we were joined by faith leaders and community advocates who called on Tarrant County to end its racist practices.

Investigating a pattern like this takes time, resources, and people willing to ask hard questions. Thank you for supporting this important work as we ask those hard questions—and fight for a legal system that is free from racism and cruelty.
With gratitude,