Supreme Court Leaves Taylor Parker on Texas Death Row in 2026 Review Denial
Updated
Updated · USA TODAY · Jun 12
Supreme Court Leaves Taylor Parker on Texas Death Row in 2026 Review Denial
3 articles · Updated · USA TODAY · Jun 12
Summary
May 2026 brought Taylor Parker’s latest legal setback when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review her case, leaving the 2022 Texas death sentence intact.
Parker is now held at the Patrick L. O'Daniel Unit in Gatesville after losing a lower appeal in November 2025; Texas has not scheduled an execution date.
The capital murder case stemmed from Parker’s 2020 killing of 21-year-old Reagan Simmons-Hancock, whose unborn baby she cut from the womb after faking her own pregnancy.
Prosecutors said Parker, unable to have children after a hysterectomy, tried to pass the baby off as her own before doctors determined she had not given birth.
Parker is the youngest woman on Texas death row and one of seven women sentenced to death in the state, a case revisited as Netflix streams the 96-minute documentary “Maternal Instinct.”