Texas v. Karla Faye Tucker Writ of Habeas Corpus On January 28, 1998, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied a writ filed eight days earlier by attorneys for convicted Texas pickax murderer Karla Faye Tucker in a last-minute attempt to save Tucker from a scheduled execution on February 3. She would be the first woman to be executed in Texas since the Civil War. Tucker's attorneys argued that she has reformed herself and -- while the right to imprison her is not in question -- that she is no longer deserving of a death sentence. Tucker, a former prostitute and drug dealer, claims she is a born-again Christian and has repented for her crimes. They also argued that the Texas high court needed to review her sentence because "the Texas death penalty system as it presently operates (not as it is constituted) will not prevent the unconscionable and unconstitutional denial of her right to life." The Texas parole board, they said, does not take rehabilitation into account and therefore has no ability to prevent Tucker from being put to death. They did not argue that she is not guilty, only that she is a changed woman and does not deserve to die. Governor George W. Bush cannot stay her execution without a recommendation from the Texas parole board -- and with no clemency apparently on its way from the governor, Tucker's lawyers believe only the Texas high court can help save her life. Tucker was convicted along with co-defendant Daniel Garrett of hacking Houston residents Jerry Dean and Deborah Thornton to death in Dean's home in 1983. Here is the full text of the 150-plus page writ filed by attorneys David Botsford and George Secrest on her behalf. Table of Contents (Summary of Writ) Parts I - III Parts IV - VI Part VII (Claims for Relief, Parts One through Three) Part VII (Claims for Relief, Parts Four through Nine) Read the Background Report