Law of parties


The Texas law of parties states that a person can be criminally responsible for the actions of another in certain circumstances, including "f, in the attempt to carry out a conspiracy to commit one felony, another felony is committed by one of the conspirators, all conspirators are guilty of the felony actually committed, though having no intent to commit it, if the offense was committed in furtherance of the unlawful purpose and was one that should have been anticipated as a result of the carrying out of the conspiracy."
In Texas capital cases, a person may be convicted under the law of parties, but may not be sentenced to death if convicted under the law of parties unless the sentencing jury finds beyond a reasonable doubt that "the defendant actually caused the death of the deceased or did not actually cause the death of the deceased but intended to kill the deceased or another or anticipated that a human life would be taken."

Convictions under the law

People convicted under the law include Robert Lynn Pruett, Thomas Bartlett Whitaker, Kenneth Foster, Jeffery Lee Wood, Clinton Lee Young, Steven Michael Woods, Jr., Robert Lee Thompson, John Adams, Ray Jasper, Joseph Nichols, Randy Halprin, and Patrick Murphy Jr.. Foster's sentence would later be commuted to life imprisonment, one of only three persons convicted of capital murder to have his sentence commuted since restoration of the death penalty in the 1980s.
Miguel Angel Martinez was sentenced to death under law of parties, aged 17 in 1991. His co-defendant admitted to all three murders but only received a 41 years sentence, despite being more culpable than Martinez Martinez was present at the scene and inflicted one wound post- mortem, under duress, and tried to leave the scene. A third accomplice was involved but never tried, illustrating an inconsistent application of the law of parties. Martinez's sentence was commuted to a life sentence as the result of an international campaign. The co-defendant, Venegas, will be released 2033. To date Martinez remains in prison despite being eligible for parole since 2006.