Timothy Tyler Titsworth, a 34-year-old white man, is scheduled to be executed on June 6 for the murder of Randall County resident Christine Marie Sossaman. Titsworth and Sossaman had been living together for two months prior to the murder. After purchasing and ingesting crack cocaine, Titsworth is alleged to have entered the home that he and Sossaman shared and to have attacked her with an ax. Then Titsworth is said to have stolen several of Sossaman’s belongings, which he later sold in exchange for drugs. Police arrested Titsworth in Sossaman’s car as he and another man were driving to the victim’s home.
Soon after being arrested, Titsworth made a confession to the police, describing the events listed above. However, just before the confession, when Titsworth was being booked at the police station, the sheriff’s deputy processing him, Cindy Risley, commented to other officers how intoxicated Titsworth appeared. She testified: “‘[He] would laugh, he’d nod off. I had to wake him up a couple of times during the booking process. He didn’t seem to understand at the time what he was being brought in for.’” Furthermore, “[Risley] recalled that [Titsworth] answered questions as if the victim were still alive.” The prosecutor in the case argued that Titsworth could not have been intoxicated when his confession was made, saying that it fails to fit within the timetable of Titsworth’s drug or alcohol use and arrest. Yet even if this were true, Titsworth clearly seems to have been exhibiting some mental disturbance when he was confessing.
A confession is generally considered the gold standard of evidence in a criminal trial. However, in Timothy Titsworth’s case, the confession is fool’s gold. Titsworth was impaired by either drugs or mental illness when he confessed to police and thus likely didn’t know what he was saying. It would be impermissible to allow Texas to execute Timothy Titsworth on the grounds of such a questionable confession.
