Watch the Session
A former appeals court judge, a big-city district attorney and two criminal justice reporters discuss one of the most Texas subjects of all.
This event was recorded as part of The 2020 Texas Tribune Festival that took place virtually Sept. 1-30, 2020. You’re welcome to watch here or share this link with your friends and colleagues to watch it on demand anytime. This session was recorded on Sept. 25 and aired on Sept. 29.
The Texas Tribune Festival brings you the biggest names in politics, policy and media. Check out the Festival website to watch some of our favorite free sessions from the 2020 Festival, and sign up to receive Texas Tribune event updates.
Chammah is a staff writer at The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news outlet that covers the criminal justice system. His first book, “Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty” will be published in January 2021. He won the J. Anthony Lukas Work-In-Progress Book Award in 2019. Chammah’s stories have been published by The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Esquire and Mother Jones.
Alcala joined Texas Defender Service, a nonprofit that aims to improve the quality of representation for those facing the death penalty, in 2019. Previously, she served seven years on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and nine years on the First Court of Appeals. Alcala was appointed as a trial judge in Harris County by then-Gov. George W. Bush and has served as a Harris County assistant district attorney.
Gonzales has been the Bexar County district attorney in Texas since 2019. Previously, he worked as a trial prosecutor with the Bexar County District Attorney's office before opening up his own practice, where he worked as a criminal defense attorney. Gonzales also served as a magistrate and municipal judge for the City of San Antonio for seven years.
