Texas Death Row Inmate Can Appeal Over Counsel’s Effectiveness

A man sentenced to death in Texas for the murder of a pastor and beating of his assistant in a robbery will have a chance to argue his lawyers were ineffective in the punishment phase of his trial, the Fifth Circuit ruled.

It’s at least debatable that Steven Nelson’s attorneys failed to investigate whether two other men were involved in the incident, a theory not ruled out in the conviction phase of the trial, the appeals court said Thursday. A successful investigation would have allowed Nelson’s attorneys to argue, in opposing the death penalty, that the other two committed the ...