Death in TX
An overview of the constitutional, legal, human rights and practical challenges for Death Penalty Defence Attorneys in Texas
13 March 2024
The Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) was delighted to host this panel event on the ongoing use of the death penalty in the USA, in collaboration with AMICUS.
The event was chaired by HRLC Deputy Director, Dr Mando Rachovitsa.
Speakers on the panel discussed AMICUS’s work, providing insights into the current legal challenges and issues regarding the use of the death penalty in the USA, with a focus on the state of Texas.
The presentations were followed by a Q/A discussion session.
AMICUS is a due process, fair trials not-for-profit organisation that fights for individuals facing death sentences. It also facilitates the training and placement of lawyers and postgraduate students to support capital defence offices across the US. This includes hosting University of Nottingham law students as part of the undergraduate year abroad programme with The University of Texas at Austin.
You can view a recording of the event here:
About the Speakers
Margot Ravenscroft
Margot Ravenscroft is Director of AMICUS. She joined the organisation in 2007 after working for the Bar Pro Bono Unit. Previously she worked in California at the offices of Clarence & Dyer LLP on death penalty appeals alongside white collar crime matters. On returning to the UK, she continued in the field working pro bono on Jamaican capital cases while working in re-insurance litigation at Barlow Lyde & Gilbert LLP. She also served on the National Pro Bono Committee and on the organising committee for the UK's first Pro Bono Conference.
Prof. Raoul Schonemann
Raoul Schonemann is a Clinical Professor and Co-Director of the Capital Punishment Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, Texas. For the past 25 years, he has defended people facing the death penalty in Texas, California, Alabama, and Georgia, primarily in appellate and post-conviction habeas corpus proceedings. Prior to joining the law school, he was employed as the managing attorney of the Capital Litigation Unit at the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta; as a deputy public defender at the Office of the State Public Defender in San Francisco; and as a staff attorney at the Texas Resource Center in Austin. In 2003, he served as a consultant to the American Bar Association in its revision of the "Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Counsel in Death Penalty Cases".
Prof. Jim Marcus
Jim Marcus is Clinical Professor and Co-Director of the Capital Punishment Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, Texas. Since graduating law school in 1993, Jim has represented death-sentenced clients at every level of state and federal habeas corpus proceedings. Jim began his career at the Texas Resource Center. In 1995, he helped found the Texas Defender Service, a non-profit capital defence project. Jim served as the Executive Director of Texas Defender Service from 1997 until 2006, when he joined the Capital Punishment Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law. He is also currently a Texas Habeas Assistance and Training Counsel. In the latter capacity, Jim trains and supports capital habeas counsel in Texas cases and lectures in capital defence seminars across the USA.
Prof. Thea Posel
Thea Posel is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work as well as a Clinical Instructor at the Capital Punishment Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, Texas. She has worked with capital defence teams in both Colorado and Texas, from pre-trial litigation prep and consulting to state and federal post-conviction cases. She now works primarily on Texas state court advocacy and consulting at the capital trial, appellate, and habeas stages. She co-teaches “Providing Effective Assistance of Counsel in Capital Trials” with Professor Raoul Schonemann and the interdisciplinary “Mitigation Matters” course, a collaboration between the Capital Punishment Center faculty and the Steve Hicks School of Social Work. Thea holds a sociology degree from the University of Colorado, where her undergraduate research focused on the effects of race and class in capital prosecutions, sentencing outcomes, and participation in the criminal justice system as well as social and environmental effects and attitudes surrounding the death penalty in Colorado.