Robert Roberson
Robert Roberson also awaits a trial court rehearing after new evidence brought forth by state Rep. Lacey Hull, R-Houston, helped win his second stay of execution in as many years. Roberson was convicted of capital murder in 2003 for the death of his 2-year-old daughter Nikki, who was diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome. Supporters have said that diagnosis was based on now-debunked science.
Roberson’s case drew nationwide attention after a bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers in 2024 blocked a previously scheduled execution by issuing a legislative subpoena requiring his testimony before a committee on the day he was to be put to death.
David Wood
David Wood, who has spent more than three decades on death row, awaits a rehearing after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted him a stay in March 2025 and remanded his case to trial court in July. Wood was accused of killing and burying six girls between the ages of 14 and 24 near El Paso in 1992.
Wood made eight claims in his appeal, ranging from allegations of false testimony to suppressed evidence. The Court of Criminal Appeals did not specify which of the eight claims were substantiated in its ruling.
Declining executions, deaths in custody
Texas executed fewer people in 2025 for a second consecutive year, though the state remains the national overall leader in executions. Harris County alone, which handed down its 300th death sentence in 2025, accounts for more executions than any other individual state.
In 2025, as many Texas death row inmates died in custody as were executed — five in each category. Micah Brown died by suicide. James Harris Jr., William Mason, Joseph Prystash, and Scott Panetti each died of medical conditions.
Panetti, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, died in June after spending 34 years on death row. His appeals reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007, which reinforced rules related to inmates’ ineligibility to be executed if they do not understand the reason for their execution. Panetti was not deemed ineligible for execution until September 2023, by a federal district judge.
Kristin Houlé Cuellar, executive director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, a grassroots advocacy group, said the extended pursuit of Panetti’s execution raised broader questions about the state’s capital punishment system.
“What is the state really achieving in its pursuit of execution, especially in these cases of individuals who have been on death row for decades, who are aging rapidly?” Cuellar said. “It really speaks to it just really presents the kind of overall question to me, what is the point here, and what purpose is this actually serving?”
The next scheduled Texas execution is that of Charles Thompson on January 28. Thompson was convicted of shooting and killing two people during an argument in 1998. There are currently four executions scheduled in Texas for 2026, with additional dates expected to be set throughout the year.