Execution Watch: 12/11/2018

On Tuesday night, the State of Texas will kill again…

ALVIN BRAZIEL, JR., 43. Mr. Braziel’s attorneys said he received sub-par legal assistance at trial, reducing his chances of avoiding the death penalty. Despite the claim, Texas intends to carry out his execution. Mr. Braziel was sentenced to death in the 1993 slaying of a couple in Mesquite. Testing of DNA evidence in 2001 implicated Braziel, who was already in prison for sexual assault of a child. His appellate lawyers said trial attorneys failed to tell the jury about several possible mitigating factors during the punishment phase of the trial. Mr. Brazier contends that had jurors known about his abuse as a child, family history of mental illness and a head injury he suffered as a child, they might have spared his life. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his case in 2016.