Texas death row appeals coming in 2026

High-profile appeals from Texas death row inmates are set to be heard in courts in 2026.

The inmates Robert Roberson, Brittany Holberg, and David Wood have upcoming appeals or overturned convictions under review this year, each tied to disputed trials and decades-long legal battles.

Four executions are also currently scheduled to take place in Texas in 2026 for Charles Victor Thompson, Cedric Ricks, James Broadnax and Edward Busby.

Why It Matters

Texas has carried out by the far the most executions of all U.S. states, conducting 596 executions between 1977 and December 2025, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Texas is followed by Oklahoma on 129, and Florida on 125.

However, after decades of conducting the highest yearly totals of executions across the U.S., Texas has reduced its numbers substantially in recent years. In 2025, Texas carried out five executions, significantly behind Florida, the nation’s leader, on 19.

What To Know

Robert Roberson

In October 2025, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) granted a stay on the execution of Roberson just days before he was set to be put to death. This was the third execution date that his lawyers had been able to halt since 2016.

Roberson was convicted in 2003 of killing his 2-year-old daughter in a shaken-baby syndrome lawsuit. Roberson has always maintained his innocence, and said his daughter’s death was linked to complications from pneumonia.

The appeals court’s decision came under Texas’ 2013 “junk science” law, which allows for courts to reexamine convictions based on scientific evidence that has since been debunked.

The court’s stay means that Roberson’s case will be sent back to the trial court for a further review of the evidence.

Brittany Holberg

In March 2025, a federal appeals court overturned the murder conviction of Holberg following revelations that key testimony came from a paid police informant.

Holberg, a former sex worker, was convicted in 1998 of murdering A.B. Towery, an 80-year-old man and one of her clients. During her trial, Holberg said that she acted in self-defense when she stabbed Towery after he started beating her.

At trial, the prosecutors called Holberg’s cellmate, Vickie Marie Kirkpatrick, as a witness. Kirkpatrick said that Holberg had confided in her that she had killed Towery for money.

However, it was not disclosed at the time that Kirkpatrick was working as a paid informant for the City of Amarillo police.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Holberg’s conviction in March, and sent it back down to the trial court. A hearing by the appeals court is set to take place in January.

David Wood

In March 2025, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the execution of Wood just two days before he was set to be put to death by lethal injection.

Wood was sentenced to death for the murder of six girls and a woman in El Paso in 1987. He has always maintained his innocence.

The appeals court put Wood’s execution on hold “until further order” following his latest appeal. The brief order did not specify which of his claims—including allegations of false testimony and suppressed evidence—were substantiated.

The order gives the state court more time to review Wood’s latest legal arguments.

What People Are Saying

Gretchen Sween, Robert Roberson’s attorney, said in October: “We are relieved and grateful that members of the CCA appreciate the parallels between Andrew Roark’s case and Robert Roberson’s, and the case is being sent back to the district court for further proceedings…We are confident that an objective review of the science and medical evidence will show there was no crime.”

Roark was a Texas man whose conviction was later scrutinized after courts determined that outdated or flawed medical testimony had been used at trial. His case became a key example of how evolving science — particularly in forensic and medical evidence — can undermine past convictions.

Brian Wharton, the lead detective in Roberson’s trial, who now publicly advocates for his innocence, told Innocence Project last year: “We made a horrible mistake in this case. There’s no shame in trying to correct that error now, but it would be a shameful failure for Texas to execute this innocent man.”

Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham wrote in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on Brittany Holberg: “At the time of Holberg’s trial, the state knew about Kirkpatrick’s confidential informant work for the Amarillo police, but presented her to the Amarillo jury as a disinterested individual who ‘wanted to do the right thing’ and was attempting to be ‘as truthful…and complete as [she] could be.’

“The state did not disclose Kirkpatrick’s work as a paid informant until after Holberg was sentenced to death. Holberg’s counsel’s cross-examination of Kirkpatrick spanned only six pages of the trial transcript, a reality that speaks volumes.”

Gregory W. Wiercioch and Jeremy Schepers, David Wood’s attorneys, said in July, according to The Texas Tribune: “We are grateful that the CCA recognized the seriousness of Mr. Wood’s claims, which present a substantial amount of new evidence showing Mr. Wood’s innocence, including evidence that was withheld by the State during his trial.”

What Happens Next

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to hear oral arguments in Holberg’s case in January. There will also be reviews in Wood and Roberson’s cases.

The outcomes could set precedents in how courts address forensic evidence and due process claims in capital convictions across Texas and potentially the United States.