Justice for Whom? Kent Whitaker never wanted execution for his son

Thomas Whitaker is up for execution next Thursday, Feb. 22. Whitaker, 38, was convicted of capital murder for conspiring to kill his brother and parents in December of 2003. He had arranged for his family to go out to dinner. When they returned home, a gunman was set up in their house.

Chris Brashear shot and killed Whitaker's mother and brother; his father, Kent, was shot in the chest but survived. Fort Bend County prosecutors secured a life sentence for Brashear but sought the death penalty for Whitaker, who they said concocted the plan to collect on a 7-figure inheritance - a figure Kent Whitaker maintains was sharply exaggerated and beside the point; his son had been suffering from mental illness.

Whitaker has lived a relatively consequential life in the last 5 years on death row. In 2013, he filed a joint lawsuit with Michael Yowell and Perry Williams that questioned the purity of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's then-current stock of pentobarbital (the state's execution drug of choice).

The case was originally dismissed for Whitaker and Williams because neither had been issued an execution warrant at the time. (Yowell was also unsuccessful, and executed with the state's 1st known dosage of compounded pentobarbital.) But in 2015, the Attorney General's Office agreed the state should retest Whitaker and Williams' doses shortly before their executions.

The next summer, Williams saw his execution date withdrawn after the state failed to procure test results on his dosage (or that's what the TDCJ told the general public).

Meanwhile, Whitaker's case is currently pending in the U.S. Supreme Court, where justices are set to conference on Feb. 23, 1 day after his scheduled execution. Whitaker will request a stay to allow the justices time to conference.

Whitaker is currently represented in those efforts by Maurie Levin, and on clemency by James Rytting and Austin attorney Keith Hampton. In January, Hampton and Rytting filed a request with Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on the specific grounds that Kent Whitaker never wanted his son to be executed (indeed, he lobbied for a life sentence at trial) and would not be brought any form of closure, healing, or justice through his surviving son's execution.

Texas has already killed 3 people this year, including William Rayford and John Battaglia over the past 3 weeks. Whitaker would be the 4th. There are 2 more inmates on the Huntsville calendar at this time: Rosendo Rodriguez III on March 27 and Erick Davila on April 25.

Source: Austin Chronicle, February 14, 2018

Urgent Action: FATHER APPEALS FOR SON'S LIFE TO BE SPARED

Thomas Whitaker, aged 38, is due to be executed in Texas on 22 February. He was convicted in 2007 of the murder of his mother and brother in a shooting in which his father was badly wounded but survived. The father is appealing for clemency for his son.

Write a letter, send an email, call, fax or tweet:

* Calling on the Texas authorities to commute the death sentence of Thomas Whitaker;

* Noting support for clemency from inmates, guards, and the prisoner's father, also a victim of the crime;

* Noting that the actual gunman received a life sentence and the very troubling claims surrounding the prosecution's alleged solicitation of the defendant's confession and its use in arguing for a death sentence.

Friendly reminder: If you send an email, please create your own instead of forwarding this one!

Contact these 2 officials by 22 February, 2018:

Clemency Section, Board of Pardons and Paroles

8610 Shoal Creek Blvd.

Austin, Texas 78757-6814, USA

Fax: +1 512 467 0945

Email: bpp-pio@tdcj.state.tx.us

Salutation: Dear Board members

Governor Greg Abbott

Office of the Governor

P.O. Box 12428

Austin, Texas 78711-2428, USA

Fax: +1 512 463 1849

Contact Form: https://gov.texas.gov/apps/contact/opinion.aspx

Salutation: Dear Governor

Source: Amnesty International USA, February 2018

⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Comments

Saudi Arabia executed 356 people in 2025, highest number on record

Analysts attribute increase to kingdom’s ‘war on drugs’ as authorities kill 356 people by death penalty Saudi authorities executed 356 people in 2025, setting a new record for the number of inmates put to death in the kingdom in a single year. Analysts have largely attributed the increase in executions to Riyadh’s “war on drugs”, with some of those arrested in previous years only now being executed after legal proceedings and convictions. Official data released by the Saudi government said 243 people were executed in drug-related cases in 2025 alone, according to a tally kept by Agence France-Presse.

Georgia parole board suspends scheduled execution of Cobb County death row prisoner

The execution of a Georgia man scheduled for Wednesday has been suspended as the State Board of Pardons and Paroles considers a clemency application. Stacey Humphreys, 52, would have been the state's first execution in 2025. As of December 16, 2025, Georgia has carried out zero executions in 2025. The state last executed an inmate in January 2020, followed by a pause due to COVID-19. Executions resumed in 2024, but none have occurred this year until now. Humphreys had been sentenced to death for the 2003 killings of 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown, who were fatally shot at the real estate office where they worked.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Burkina Faso to bring back death penalty

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.

USA | Justice Department Encourages New Capital Charges Against Commuted Federal Death Row Prisoners

On Dec. 23, 2024, former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. commuted the sentences of nearly all federal death row prisoners, sparing 37 men from execution. Just 28 days later, on Jan. 20, 2025, newly inaugurated President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order encouraging state and local prosecutors to pursue new charges against those same prisoners, reopening the possibility of capital punishment in state courts.

Singapore | Prolific lawyer M Ravi, known for drug death-penalty cases, found dead

Ravi Madasamy, a high-profile lawyer who represented death-row inmates and campaigned against capital punishment, was found dead in the early hours, prompting a police investigation into an unnatural death KUALA LUMPUR — Prolific Singapore lawyer Ravi Madasamy who tried to save Malaysian drug traffickers from the gallows found dead in the early hours with police investigating a case of unnatural death. Lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam, who had previously represented 56-year-old Ravi in court and described him as a friend, said he was deeply saddened by the news.

M Ravi, the man who defied Singapore regime's harassment, dies

M Ravi never gave up despite the odds stacked against him by the Singapore regime, which has always used its grip on the legal process to silence critics. M Ravi, one of Singapore's best-known personalities who was at the forefront of legal cases challenging the PAP regime over human rights violations, has died. He was 56. The news has come as a shock to friends and activists. Singapore's The Straits Times reported that police were investigating the "unnatural death".

The US reporter who has witnessed 14 executions: ‘People need to know what it looks like’

South Carolina-based journalist Jeffrey Collins observed back-to-back executions in 2025 after the state revived the death penalty following a 13-year pause Jeffrey Collins has watched 14 men draw their final breaths. Over 25 years at the Associated Press, the South Carolina-based journalist has repeatedly served as an observer inside the state’s execution chamber, watching from feet away as prison officials kill men who were sentenced to capital punishment. South Carolina has recently kept him unusually busy, with seven back-to-back executions in 14 months.

Iran | Executions in Shiraz, Borazjan, Ahvaz, Isfahan, Ardabil, Rasht, Ghaemshahr, Neishabur

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 23, 2025: Mahin Rashidi, Abbas Alami, Naser Faraji, Tohid Barzegar and Jamshid Amirfazli, five co-defendants on death row for drug-related offences, were secretly executed in a group hanging in Shiraz Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, four men and a woman were hanged in Shiraz (Adel Abad) Central Prison on 17 December 2025. Their identities have been established as Mahin Rashidi, a 39-year-old woman, Abbas Alami, 43, Naser Faraji, 38, Tohid Barzegar, 51, and Jamshid Amirfazli, 45, all Kashan natives.

California | Convicted killer Scott Peterson keeps swinging in court — but expert says he’s not going anywhere but his cell

More than two decades after Laci Peterson vanished from her Modesto, California, home, the murder case that captivated the nation continues to draw legal challenges, public debate and renewed attention. As the year comes to a close, Scott Peterson, convicted in 2004 of murdering his pregnant wife and their unborn son Conner, remains behind bars, serving life without the possibility of parole. His wife disappeared on Christmas Eve in 2002, and a few months later, the remains of Laci and Conner were found in the San Francisco Bay.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog