From that one-of-a-kind chronicle of true crime stories, In Cold Blog:
Next time somebody jokes that Texas has an express lane on Death Row, you'll know better. It took a Dallas jury only 15 minutes to convict Ronald Chambers of murder in 1976 after he robbed and shot two college students. He was sentenced to die.
But more than 31 years and three trials later, he hasn't died. Chambers, now 52, is Texas' longest-serving Death Row prisoner, and he's been there 3 times longer than the U.S. average of 10-ish years between sentencing and execution. Late last month, just before he was to be executed, the U.S. Supreme Court granted him a new reprieve as it considers a case similar to his. One more delay.
In Texas, 15 of the 391 condemned inmates have been on Death Row more than 25 years ... so there goes the "express lane" theory. Right now, the longest-serving death row inmate in the United States is Gary Alvord, a Florida killer sentenced to death in 1974.
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