26 August 2020 :
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has granted a new trial to death-row prisoner Travis Green, 52, Black. The court ruled that Green, who was convicted and sentenced to death in 2000 in Harris County for a September 2, 1999 rape and murder of a White 19-year-old White girl, had been permitted to waive counsel and proceed to trial while incompetent. The court also found that penalty-phase counsel was ineffective when, after being appointed the day before the penalty phase when Green re-invoked his right to counsel, he failed to request a continuance, a competency hearing, or appointment of a mental health expert and failed to present any mental health evidence in mitigation. The federal court also found that Green’s court-appointed direct appeal and state post-conviction counsel were ineffective for failing to raise the competency issue and that post-conviction counsel had abandoned Green altogether, permitting the federal court to reach issues raised for the first time in federal habeas proceedings.
