08 May 2021 :
(HB 1340) House votes 139-4 to end 'law of parties' in death penalty cases.
The Texas House in an overwhelming vote Tuesday said people who are present when a capital murder is committed but who did not realize that someone might be killed should no longer be subject to the death penalty. House Bill 1340 requires a final House vote before advancing to the Senate. Under what is commonly called the "law of parties," all conspirators are equally guilty if they take part in the commission of a felony. But under state Rep. Jeff Leach's legislation, a jury must find that a conspirator who did not actually do the killing actually intended to kill the victim to be condemned to death. The bill, which passed 139-4, also would require the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to determine how many inmates presently are on death row under the law of parties and to initiate efforts to have their sentences commuted. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Texas has executed at least six people who were convicted under the law of parties.
