20 November 2017 :

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled 5 to 4 that trial attorneys for 47-year-old Douglas Armstrong conducted a constitutionally inadequate investigation and ordered a new punishment trial. A Hidalgo County jury decided on the death penalty after convicting him of the robbery and murder of Rafael Castelan in 2006. The court says a more thorough investigation of Armstrong's "squalid and dangerous home life" and expert testimony about his mental and physical health issues may have convinced at least one juror to choose a life sentence.