The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has officially vacated the death sentence of Clarence Curtis Jordan, ending a period of nearly 50 years that the 70-year-old man spent on death row, The Guardian reported. This development marks a significant shift for a prisoner who has struggled with severe mental health challenges for decades.
Jordan was originally convicted in 1978 for the murder of Joe L. Williams, a 40-year-old grocer in Houston. Following the recent court ruling, the case has been sent back to Harris County for a new punishment proceeding.
It’s hard to wrap your head around just how long Jordan has been caught in this legal limbo. He hasn’t had a lawyer for over 30 years, and for most of that time, he was essentially forgotten while wasting away in a Texas prison. Attorney Ben Wolff, the director of the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs in Austin, took up Jordan’s case in 2024.
Wolff has been vocal about the state of this case, describing it as a troubling, yet remediable failure of the Texas criminal justice system
In a 2025 filing, Wolff highlighted that Jordan is an incompetent, brain-damaged person with IQ scores assessed at 56 and 60. Beyond those intellectual disabilities, Jordan has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and organic brain dysfunction. During his original trial, he was actually referred to as Father Nature.
The legal arguments in this case are heavy. Wolff’s filing pointed out that the jury that originally sentenced Jordan didn’t have an adequate way to assess the mitigating evidence regarding his cognitive and psychiatric issues. This is often referred to as a Penry claim, which suggests that evidence of intellectual disability or a troubled childhood should be weighed by a jury before they decide to impose the death penalty. That just didn’t happen for Jordan back in the late 1970s. Because of how the law has evolved, it’s now widely accepted that Jordan’s death sentence is unconstitutional.
Wolff has been transparent about the reality of Jordan’s current state. He has visited the inmate in prison and noted that Jordan is bedridden and dealing with serious medical issues. He is no longer housed with other death row inmates at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Livingston but is instead held at a maximum-security prison with a hospital wing in Huntsville.
It’s clear that his health has deteriorated significantly over these five decades. While the Harris County District Attorney’s office stated that the ruling is what justice looks like, they also made sure to emphasize that his conviction itself still stands. According to their statement, the outcome doesn’t lessen the harm caused to the family and friends of Joe Williams, but they must follow the law to ensure the process is fair.
When you look at the history, this case is quite unique. Jordan was convicted of the October 14, 1977, shooting death of Williams at the Rice Food Market. Over the years, Texas taxpayers have spent more than $1 million just to house him, excluding his medical bills. He has one of the longest death sentences in the nation.
Records show that as far back as 1982, while he was in the Harris County Jail psychiatric ward awaiting a retrial due to a previous jury issue, Jordan reported hearing voices and hallucinations. He has a documented history of bizarre behavior, including claims that he had been endowed with superior abilities.
Wolff has noted that the only other eligible punishment for Jordan’s conviction would be life in prison with the possibility of parole. While this doesn’t guarantee freedom, it does open the door for more humane treatment and potentially less restrictive care. Wolff mentioned that he views this as a moral imperative. He expressed gratitude for the outcome but also pointed out the troubling truth that the people most in need of help in our justice system are often forgotten or cast aside.
This isn’t an isolated incident in the state. Since 2017, 19 people have been removed from death row in Texas due to evidence of intellectual disability, and more than one-third of those cases were tried in Harris County. Just recently, on April 16, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted relief to another inmate, Larry Estrada, based on similar claims.
Published: Apr 10, 2026 03:45 pm