Texas House of Representatives Passes Bill to Limit Death-Penalty Eligibility for Defendants Who Do Not Kill

In an overwhelming bipartisan vote, the Texas House of Representatives has passed a bill that ends death-penalty liability under the state’s controversial “law of parties” for felony accomplices who neither kill nor intended that a killing take place and were minor participants in the conduct that led to the death of the victim. Currently, Texas law makes any participant in a felony criminally liable for the acts of everyone else involved in the crime, irrespective of how small a role he played in the offense or whether he knew or intended that a killing would occur.

The state House voted 135 to 6 on May 5, 2021 to approve HB 1340, advancing the bill for consideration by the Texas Senate. The legislation also directs the Texas Board of Paroles and Pardons to review the cases of prisoners who previously had been sentenced to death under the rule of parties to “identify appropriate inmates to recommend to the governor for purposes of granting clemency.”

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jeff Leach (R – Plano), said “I have trouble sleeping at night knowing that there is … a man, and perhaps many men and women, on death row right now who could be put to death any day by the state when they didn't kill anybody.” “We want to reserve the death penalty ... for cases in which there is intent,” Leach said.

South Carolina Legislature Authorizes Use of Electric Chair and Firing Squad as State Reaches 10 Years Without an Execution

One day shy of the tenth anniversary of the state’s last execution, the South Carolina legislature, frustrated by the state’s inability to obtain execution drugs, approved a bill that would authorize putting prisoners to death in the electric chair or by firing squad.

On May 5, 2021, the South Carolina House of Representatives voted 66-43 to approve Senate Bill 200, bringing the bill closer to final passage. The State Senate passed an earlier version of the bill on March 2 by a vote of 32-11. The bill now returns to the Senate for ratification of the House amendments before it can be sent to Gov. Henry McMaster to be signed into law.

The legislature’s action comes nearly ten years to the day after South Carolina carried out its last execution on May 6, 2011. The state is the 13th that currently authorizes capital punishment but has not executed anyone for more than a decade. Thirty-six U.S. states — nearly three-quarters (72%) of the nation — have now either abolished the death penalty or had no executions in at least ten years.

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