Member-only story
The 7 Women on Death Row in Texas
Seven women are currently on death row in Texas. Three of them have been there for more than ten years. They still have appeals pending, but their avenues of appeal are closing one by one.
The laws concerning capital punishment in Texas do not mention gender at all. Only murder is a capital crime, and only murder in certain circumstances — murder of a peace officer, murder during a felony like rape or robbery, murder with the expectation of profit, murder during a prison escape, and murder of more than one victim. Because few women commit these types of crimes, few women end up on death row often.
A lover’s quarrel that ends in murder, which is far more common when women kill, is not a capital offense.
There are only a few murder crimes that are capital crimes, and then only murders that are murders during a felony, like rape or robbery, murders for hire or profit, murders during prison escapes, and murders of more than one person.
There aren’t many women committing crimes like these, which is why there aren’t many women on death row.
Nevertheless, women do arrive on death row.
But only two women have been executed in Texas since 1863 — Betty Lou Beets, who was executed in 1985, and Karla Faye Tucker, who died by lethal injection in 1998.
The act of executing a woman offends some deep value we’ve held in Texas since 1863, no matter how the law reads.
The reluctance we feel is the most visible sign that civilization is all about protecting women, that it’s worse to hurt a woman than to hurt a man.
A new set of rules governs the death penalty today. In 1972, the death penalty was declared unconstitutional, and in 1976, it was reinstated, but with strict restrictions.
The following is a list of the women who are on death row in Texas today.
Erica Yvonne Sheppard — 1995
Erica Yvonne Sheppard was sentenced to death on April 25, 1995, after being found guilty of murder and robbery. In prison, she found solace…
