Texas Court Upholds Death Sentence of Innocent Man Although "There is Something Very Wrong" with Case Against Him
With an yesterday from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, 吃瓜直播 client Max Soffar moves a step closer to an unjust execution. And, little more than one year after the execution of Troy Davis, our system moves closer to another miscarriage of justice.
Soffar is an innocent man on Texas鈥檚 death row, who falsely confessed to crimes he didn鈥檛 commit. He鈥檚 been there most of the last 32 years after being convicted of killing three people in a 1980 Houston bowling alley robbery. His conviction was based entirely on false words from his own mouth.
驰别蝉迟别谤诲补测鈥檚 came in Soffar鈥檚 latest appeal, filed by attorneys from the law firm Kirkland & Ellis. The court upheld Soffar鈥檚 death sentence, even as three judges declared in a joint that they lack faith in his conviction. They note that Soffar鈥檚 鈥渃onfession does not inspire confidence in its accuracy [and] appears to be a tale told by one who heard about the robbery-murders rather than by one who committed them.鈥�
Penned by Judge Cathy Cochran, this powerful concurrence begins by recalling what a previous appellate judge had said about this case. When Judge Harold DeMoss reviewed the case (and reversed the original 1981 conviction), he stated that he had lain awake nights "agonizing over the enigmas, contradictions, and ambiguities which are inherent in this record." Judge Cochran expressed that she feels 鈥渢he same way about the similar record from the second trial conducted twenty-five years later.鈥� She added, 鈥淭here is something very wrong about this case.鈥�
Sadly, despite the serious doubt over his confession, the court upheld the death sentence against Max Soffar because they didn鈥檛 think he proved there were any constitutional violations in his treatment and legal representation (a point on which we disagree, but that鈥檚 for another day).
Judge Cochran鈥檚 analysis of Soffar鈥檚 confession echoes the framework set out just last week by my colleague Denny LeBoeuf in her recent for the New Orleans Times-Picayune concerning the exoneration of -- who also falsely confessed -- from Louisiana鈥檚 death row. She explained that the police should scrutinize confessions given by suspects suffering from cognitive confusion, limited intellectual functioning or substance abuse, and that officers should check to see if the suspect is providing new information 鈥� not information already in the public domain 鈥� that matches with the forensic evidence.
Judge Cochran checked all of these boxes in her list of problems with Soffar鈥檚 confession: 1) he had a child-like mind, low IQ and substance-abuse problems; 2) he provided no new information not already publicized in the extensive coverage of this well-known crime; and 3) perhaps most importantly, Soffar鈥檚 details did not match the known facts.
Indeed, Judge Cochran reviewed 15 different inconsistencies between Soffar鈥檚 confession and the known facts. Summarizing, she observed, 鈥淣one of these individual inconsistencies, by themselves, would necessarily cast doubt upon the accuracy of applicant's version of events, but when so many of his details do not comport with the known evidence, something smells fishy.鈥�
Echoing LeBoeuf, Judge Cochran noted that many people believe that 鈥渙nly a guilty person would ever confess to murder.鈥� But Judge Cochran showed the common wisdom is wrong with a list of proven examples of false confessions from those in the Central Park jogger case to the 鈥淣orfolk Four.鈥� Damon Thibodeaux makes one more.
Judge Cochran concluded by noting her hands were tied by procedural rules, despite her significant doubts in Soffar鈥檚 guilt: 鈥淸A]lthough I personally do not have great confidence in the reliability or accuracy of applicant's written statements and hence in his culpability for the triple murders, I was not the chosen factfinder.鈥�
This is more proof that the death penalty is a failed government program. When our criminal justice system surrenders these types of decisions to procedural technicalities, it surrenders any moral authority to execute.
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Press ReleaseJun 2025
Capital Punishment
Aclu Joins Calls To Gov. Newsom To Commute All Death Sentences As State Supreme Court Reviews Constitutional Challenge. Explore Press Release.吃瓜直播 Joins Calls to Gov. Newsom to Commute All Death Sentences as State Supreme Court Reviews Constitutional Challenge
SACRAMENTO, Calif. 鈥� The 吃瓜直播 joined the growing chorus of calls to Gov. Newsom to commute all death sentences on California鈥檚 death row to life without parole at a press conference in Sacramento this morning hosted by the California Anti-Death Penalty Coalition. The call for commutations comes as the California Supreme Court considers a landmark petition filed in April 2024 by the 吃瓜直播, the 吃瓜直播 of Northern California, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF), Wilmer Hale, and the Office of the State Public Defender (OSPD) challenging the state's death penalty statute as racially discriminatory and unconstitutional under the Equal Protection guarantees of the California Constitution. The petition demonstrates that racial disparities in California鈥檚 implementation of the death penalty are persistent, pervasive, and well documented. Black people are about five times more likely to be sentenced to death when compared to similarly situated non-Black defendants, while Latino people are at least three times more likely to be sentenced to death. 鈥淭he evidence makes it abundantly clear that racial inequality infects every aspect of California's death penalty system,鈥� said Claudia Van Wyk, senior counsel at the 吃瓜直播鈥檚 Capital Punishment Project. 鈥淕ov. Newsom recognized this when he imposed his moratorium on executions, but systemic failures of this magnitude require more than a temporary pause. While the courts deliberate our legal challenge, executive clemency offers an immediate remedy. The governor must finish what he started and commute every death sentence.鈥� This week, the 吃瓜直播 released a report on discrimination in capital jury selection citing studies in states across the country, including California. Studies of capital trials in California find that Black prospective jurors and women are disproportionately excluded and selected jurors are skewed from the eligible juror population, resulting in juries are less likely to deliberate and more likely to convict. 鈥淎s the lawsuit we filed in 2024 makes clear, the stark racial disparities in the application of California's death-penalty system violate equal protection,鈥� said Neil Sawhney, director of appellate advocacy at the 吃瓜直播 of Northern California. 鈥淲hile we are hopeful that the California Supreme Court will rule in our favor, the governor can immediately remedy this unconstitutional discrimination through executive clemency.鈥� With 570 people on death row, California has the largest death row in the nation and one of the largest in the world. Two-thirds of those sentenced have been on death row for more than 20 years, with dozens having spent more than 40 years awaiting execution. -
Press ReleaseJun 2025
Capital Punishment
New Aclu Report Finds Racial And Religious Discrimination In Death Penalty Jury Selection. Explore Press Release.New 吃瓜直播 Report Finds Racial and Religious Discrimination in Death Penalty Jury Selection
NEW YORK 鈥� The 吃瓜直播 released Fatal Flaws: Revealing the Racial and Religious Gerrymandering of the Capital Jury today, a report that exposes how the process of 鈥渄eath qualification鈥� warps juries in capital trials. Death qualification requires that jurors be willing to impose a death sentence to serve on a capital jury. Drawing on consistent studies from multiple states across the country, the report reveals how this process disproportionately excludes Black prospective jurors, women, and people of faith from serving in some of the most important cases heard in American courthouses. 鈥淭he Constitution guarantees that every person accused of a crime has the right to be tried by a jury of their peers, but that promise is by definition denied for people facing the death penalty,鈥� said Brian Stull, deputy director of the 吃瓜直播鈥檚 Capital Punishment Project. 鈥淒eath qualification systematically excludes prospective jurors based on their race, sex, and religion, violating their own rights to civic participation. The resulting juries do not reflect our communities, convict more frequently, and are composed to ignore evidence favoring a life sentence in violation of our Constitution. Justice depends on equal access to the jury box. We must demand and end to this cycle of discrimination and exclusion once and for all.鈥� Key findings from the report include: Death qualification disproportionately excludes Black prospective jurors. Black Americans, as a group, are more likely to oppose the death penalty due to the racist roots of the capital punishment system. As a result, this process disproportionately removes Black Americans from capital juries, and Black women at the highest rates of all. Death qualification unfairly excludes people of faith whose religious beliefs oppose capital punishment. Some religious groups, such as Quakers, Buddhists, and Catholics formally reject the death penalty and many others have expressed serious concerns with capital punishment. Studies across the country confirm that people of faith are disproportionately excluded from capital jury service, even though they can impose lawful verdicts on both conviction and sentence. Death qualification systematically excludes growing numbers of Americans from jury service. Changing views on the death penalty make the exclusionary effects of death qualification even more pronounced. At least 44 percent of Americans oppose the death penalty, meaning nearly half of the country is potentially disqualified from capital jury service. Death-qualified juries are more likely to convict and to ignore evidence in favor of life in violation of the Constitution. Death-qualified juries act differently than those that are not. They are more likely to convict, to ignore evidence favoring life over death, to be influenced by racial bias, and to deliberate less thoroughly. The report also urges state legislators to pass laws banning the exclusion of jurors opposed to the death penalty who can follow the law, calls on prosecutors to decline to death qualify jurors, and recommends that defense counsel mount challenges to death qualification by introducing evidence of its discriminatory effects. The full report can be found here: /publications/fatal-flaws-revealing-the-racial-and-religious-gerrymandering-of-the-capital-jury Learn more about the 吃瓜直播鈥檚 work challenging death qualification here: /news/capital-punishment/the-sinister-and-racist-practice-infecting-death-penalty-juries -
Press ReleaseMay 2025
Capital Punishment
Court Issues Order Finding Extensive And Irredeemable Defects In The Application Of The Death Penalty In Kansas. Explore Press Release.Court Issues Order Finding Extensive and Irredeemable Defects in the Application of the Death Penalty in Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Kan. 鈥� After hearing a historic challenge to the constitutionality of the death penalty and the practice of death qualification, a Kansas trial court has issued a written order finding extensive and irredeemable defects in the application of the death penalty over the last 30 years. The court declined to rule on the ultimate questions regarding the constitutionality of the state鈥檚 death penalty and the practice of death qualification because the individuals who brought the challenge no longer faced the death penalty. In its opinion the court highlighted that: The death penalty is not a deterrent. 鈥淭he scientific community has found no reliable evidence of the death penalty being a deterrent to homicides.鈥� The death penalty is costly. 鈥淢ore than $4 million has been spent with the results being no death penalty sentences and zero executions.鈥� Racial bias infects capital prosecutions. 鈥淭he factors which distinguish death sentence cases from non-death sentence cases are the race and gender of the victim, and the race and gender of the defendant.鈥� Courts have been unable to ensure capital juries are free of racial bias. 鈥淸The legal framework for limiting discrimination in jury selection] is so flawed that it does not protect racial biases in jury selection and must be reformed, a fact known to Kansans for years.鈥� 鈥淚n each of the four cases where we raised this challenge in Kansas, none of our clients ultimately faced capital trials where the death penalty remained on the table,鈥� said Cassandra Stubbs, director of the 吃瓜直播鈥檚 Capital Punishment Project. 鈥淭hat is no coincidence. The evidentiary hearings have consistently exposed uncomfortable truths to state prosecutors, the courts, and the public about the deep flaws and injustices embedded in the death penalty system. While we are relieved that none of our clients have received death sentences, the systemic issues that these cases have brought to light persist. We remain committed to challenging the death penalty on behalf of people facing capital charges in Kansas, with the hope that state legislators will end the death penalty and make future legal challenges unnecessary.鈥� The 吃瓜直播, the 吃瓜直播 of Kansas, Democracy Forward, the Kansas Death Penalty Defense Unit, Hogan Lovells, and Ali & Lockwood represented two individuals, Hugo Villaneuva-Morales and Antoine Fielder, in their constitutional pre-trial challenges to the death penalty in Wyandotte County. Following extensive pre-trial litigation, including the weeklong evidentiary hearing challenging the death penalty, the cases were resolved without the death penalty. The state and Mr. Fielder entered into a plea agreement and Mr. Fielder was sentenced to life without parole. The prosecution tried Mr. Villanueva-Morales for capital murder but ultimately withdrew its request for the death penalty. Because the two men no longer faced the prospect of a capital sentence, the court declined to address the broader constitutional claims. -
News & CommentaryApr 2025
Capital Punishment
Death Row Case Exposes Failures To Protect Childhood Trauma Survivors. Explore News & Commentary.Death Row Case Exposes Failures to Protect Childhood Trauma Survivors
Mikal Mahdi鈥檚 life was marked by abuse. Today, as he awaits execution, the courts have the responsibility to acknowledge the systemic failures that shaped his path.