71 percent of scheduled executions not carried out in 2017

Click to see this year's breakdown, as well as the longest serving death row inmates. Click to see this year's breakdown, as well as the longest serving death row inmates. Photo: Pat Sullivan, STF Photo: Pat Sullivan, STF Image 1 of / 53 Caption Close 71 percent of scheduled executions not carried out in 2017 1 / 53 Back to Gallery

Nearly three out of four death dates scheduled nationwide in 2017 were cancelled, after courts and governors intervened in 58 executions across the country.

That's one of the striking takeaways from a pair of end-of-year reports that offer sweeping overviews of capital punishment in 2017.

The broader trends offer no surprises: executions are down, but Texas is still the nation's killingest state. Nearly a third of the year's 23 executions took place in Texas.

A CHANGE: For first time in more than 30 years, no Harris County death row inmates executed

As the Chronicle previously reported, though, no death row inmates from Harris County were sent to the death chamber, and for the third year in a row no Harris County inmates were sent to death row.

"Texas continues to move away from the death penalty, even in traditional outlier counties," said Kristin Houlé, executive director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, which put out its annual report last week.

In addition to TCADP's take on the year's capital punishment trends, the Death Penalty Information Center put out its year-end report last week as well.

A REPRIEVE: San Antonio lovers' lane killer's execution called off

Taken together, the reports paint a picture of a penal practice in decline. The Gallup poll clocked support at its lowest level in 45 years, while executions and new death sentences stayed at near-record lows.

"The process is better than it was a decade ago," said Robert Dunham of DPIC. "And there were some potentially wrongful executions that resulted in stays this year that would have resulted in executions a decade ago, but there are still significant and troubling failures."

Ohio and Texas both contributed significantly to the number of cancelled executions, Dunham said. The Lone Star state saw nine prisoners' execution dates called off this year, many due to claims of false or misleading testimony or forensic evidence.

San Antonio death row inmate Juan Castillo had three dates called off, including one delayed due to Hurricane Harvey and another cancelled in light of claims that his conviction was based on false testimony.

The only Houston-area killer with a death date in 2017 won a 90-day reprieve after revealing an abandoned confession plot involving a fellow Polunsky prisoner. Now, Anthony Shore, the Harris County man known as the Tourniquet Killer, is scheduled to die by lethal injection in January 2018.

Scroll through the gallery above to take another look at the numbers in the DPIC report.