After spending nearly 50 years on death row in Texas, Clarence Curtis Jordan has been resentenced to life in prison by a Harris County judge, who has also recommended that the 70-year-old be considered for parole due to his medical conditions.
Jordan, who is intellectually disabled, spent over 47 years awaiting execution until Texas’ highest criminal court vacated his death sentence earlier this year. The court found that jurors had not been properly instructed to consider his mental and neurological conditions as mitigating factors during the sentencing phase.
On Monday, District Judge Katherine Thomas sentenced Jordan to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. She also recommended that he be evaluated for medically recommended intensive supervision, a program that allows for early parole based on medical issues such as advanced age, terminal illnesses, and significant mental health concerns.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, which is responsible for processing medical parole requests, declined to comment on Jordan’s case when approached for information.
Jordan was convicted in 1978 for the murder of Houston grocer Joe L. Williams. Although his conviction was initially overturned, he was retried and reconvicted in 1983, with the jury imposing the death penalty despite expert testimony indicating that Jordan suffered from brain damage and paranoid schizophrenia.
In 1988, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that Jordan could not be executed until he was deemed competent. However, due to a lack of legal representation, he remained on death row for decades.
“He was warehoused and forgotten all of these years unconstitutionally,” remarked Ben Wolff, the director of the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs, who took on Jordan’s case in 2024. “I’m grateful that we’re able to do something for him.”
In a memo submitted prior to the sentencing, Wolff highlighted Jordan’s deteriorating medical condition, describing him as effectively blind and mute, confined to a hospital bed or chair, and struggling with both lifelong mental illness and significant physical disabilities.
Currently, Jordan is residing in the Estelle Unit in Huntsville, which includes a prison hospital, according to information from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
