Texas Defender Services

Texas Defender Service (TDS) is a non-profit organization, with a mission to establish a fair and just criminal justice system in Texas. TDS aims to improve the quality of representation afforded to those facing a death sentence and to expose and eradicate the systemic flaws plaguing the Texas death penalty. TDS' Capital Trial Project works to reduce death sentences in Texas state. The trial project also addresses institutional resource disparity between the prosecution and the defense by providing defense teams with training and consulting assistance. Their Post-Conviction Project continues to provide quality representation to men and women on Texas’s death row in all stages of the appellate process, from direct appeal through clemency.

TDS’ Policy Project works with state legislators, the Texas Indigent Defense Commission and other government agencies and individuals to improve access to representation for indigent capital defendants and strengthen due process protections throughout the criminal justice system. The Policy Project also researches pervasive flaws in our criminal justice system and publishes reports that document how they may be addressed. The team at the Mitigation Project works on behalf of those facing death sentences and those sentenced to death and is dedicated to telling the unique and compelling stories of those facing the death penalty,  that helps decision-makers understand their clients through a different lens, ultimately in mitigation.