Texas intends to execute Andre Thomas, a Black man, on 5 April 2023. He was sentenced to death in 2005 by an all-white jury after his lawyers failed to challenge dubious prosecutorial jury selection tactics, the impartiality of certain jurors, or their client’s competence to stand trial. Andre Thomas has a long history of serious mental disability, including schizophrenia, and was experiencing a prolonged and severe psychosis at the time of the crime. Soon after his arrest, he gouged out his right eye, and has since extracted the other. He is held in a prison psychiatric facility. His current lawyers are challenging his competence for execution.
