Andre Thomas is scheduled for execution in Texas on April 5, 2023 for the 2004 murders of Laura Christine Boren Thomas, Leyha Marie Hughes, and Andre Lee.

The following information is from the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and the Texas chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

View the clemency application and related information here.

For the past 15 years, Andre Thomas has resided at the Wayne Scott Unit, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s psychiatric facility, where the most mentally ill Texas prisoners are housed. He suffers from schizophrenia and permanently blinded himself by gouging out both of his eyes, on separate occasions. These were acts of permanent self-mutilation that only the most mentally ill person could ever undertake. Over the course of his life, Mr. Thomas sought treatment for the symptoms of his severe mental illness, but no one responded to his increasingly desperate pleas for help.

Executing Andre Thomas would be a grotesque act, devoid of any of the accepted rationales for the death penalty. Certainly, carrying out his death sentence is not necessary to keep Texans safe – if his sentence is commuted, he will never get out of prison. Instead, the image of this eyeless, psychotic man being guided to the gurney would be a shameful spectacle - an unconscionable use of the ultimate governmental power.

Texas' aggressive execution schedule marks it as an outlier in its use of the death penalty while the majority of other states are on a downward trend of executions. In the last few years, Texas has been one of only a handful of states that have carried out death sentences - and it continues to do so targeting the poor, the mentally ill and people of color.

Please sign the petition asking Governor Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to do everything within their power to stop this execution, including issuing a stay, and seeking a path to clemency in the case.

Additionally, you may reach out now to the Board at bpp_clemency@tdcj.texas.gov and the Governor at https://gov.texas.gov/contact/ and (512) 463-1782. You can simply leave a voice message, or choose to speak to a representative if you prefer.

Please note: In Texas, the Governor does have limited power when it comes to the death penalty. But the story we are told that "it's out of the governor's hands," is only true if we allow it to be. Yes, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles must recommend clemency in that state in order for the Governor to grant clemency (mercy) by commuting a death sentence. But the fact is that the governor appoints the members of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. He can choose to appoint members who will take valid claims and concerns more seriously, instead of acting like rubber-stamping gate-keepers. He can still use his position of power and influence to enact justice in the State of Texas.