Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Texas for murder, and participation in a felony resulting in death if committed by an individual who has attained or is over the age of 18. In 1982, the state became the first jurisdiction in the world to carry out an execution by lethal injection, when it executed Charles Brooks Jr. It was the first execution in the state since 1964. Texas, which is the second most populous state of the Union, has executed 581 offenders since the U.S. capital punishment resumption in 1976 (beginning in 1982 with the Brooks execution) to February 8, 2023 (the execution of John Lezell Balentine)—more than a third of the national total. Even per capita, Texas has the nation's second-highest execution rate, behind only neighboring Oklahoma. History The first execution in Texas occurred in 1819, with the execution of a white male, George Brown, for piracy. In 1840, a free black male, Henry Forbes, was executed for jail-breaking. Prior to Texas statehood in 1846, eight executions—all by hanging—were carried out. Upon statehood, hanging was the method used for almost all executions until 1924. Hangings were administered by the county where the trial took place. The last hanging in the state was that of Nathan Lee, a man convicted of murder and executed in Angleton, Brazoria County, Texas on August 31, 1923. The only other method used at the time was execution by firing squad, which was used for three Confederate deserters during the American Civil War, as well as a man convicted of attempted rape in 1863. In 1853, the first execution in Houston took place in public at Founder's Cemetery in the Fourth Ward; initially, the cemetery was the execution site, but post-1868 executions took place in the jail facilities. In 1923, Texas changed its execution laws, which required that executions be carried out on the electric chair, and that they take place at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville (also known as Huntsville Unit). From 1928 until 1965, this was also home to the state's male death row. The first executions on the electric chair were on February 8, 1924, when Charles Reynolds, Ewell Morris, Harris Washington, Haden Cochran, and Melvin Johnson had their death sentences carried out. The five executions were the most carried out on a single day in the state. The state would conduct multiple executions on a