Naomi Fenwick

All three are conservative Republicans.

But there's at least some uncertainty in how these new judges might rule.

This mystery is what passes for optimism with habeas lawyers.

With less than a week to go until the execution date, the team, weirdly, doesn't have much to do but wait.

They submitted what they needed to to the governor and to the CCA.

Now, they're just adding their finishing touches to their federal petition and Supreme Court filings before they send those off.

All of which has led to what I've observed in the hallways in Dallas as a very particular energy.

Boredom operating occasionally on a knife's edge.

Jeremy, in particular, seems pent up.

Very all dressed up with nowhere to go.

On March 10th, three days before the execution date, he tried to busy himself with work usually done by the office paralegal.

I spied him shuffling back and forth from his office all the way down the corridor to the printer, multiple times, personally printing copies of a writ they were going to send to the Supreme Court, personally stapling them.

Good staple.

The next day, on March 11th, I got to the office a little late.

Honestly, partly because I'd spent several days in a row recording the functional equivalent of dead air for hours.

I check in with Jeremy.

Did I miss anything?

And for a little bit, it seems like Jeremy's right.

Everyone is sitting quietly at their computers.

I roam the halls of the office, feeling a little silly, wondering if pointing my microphone at Naomi's typing is a better use of my time than pointing my microphone at Jeremy staring at a screen.