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TechnoratiTexas Accounts for Half of Executions in US but Now Has Doubts Over Death Row
Overturned convictions and growth of DNA forensic evidence shake state's rock-solid faith in capital punishment
The growth of DNA forensic evidence has seen nearly 140 death row convictions overturned across the US, prompting abolition and moratoriums in other states that Texas has so far resisted.
![["Old Sparky", the decommissioned electric chair in which 361 prisoners were executed between 1924 and 1964, at the Texas Prison Museum in Huntsville, Texas. (AFP/File/Fanny Carrier)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/texasdoubtsdeathpen.jpg "texasdoubtsdeathpen.jpg")
But the public mood is swinging in the conservative state, which often seems to have an Old Testament view of justice. A former governor, Mark White – previously a strong supporter of the death penalty – has joined those calling for a reconsideration of capital punishment because of the risk of executing an innocent person.
The number of death sentences passed by juries in Texas has fallen sharply in recent years, reflecting a retreat from capital punishment in many parts of America after DNA evidence led to the release of scores of condemned prisoners.
The number of death sentences passed annually in the US has dropped by about 60% in the past decade, to around 100.
"In Texas we have seen a constant stream of individual cases that really destroy public faith and integrity in our criminal justice system," said Steve Hall, former chief of staff to the Texas attorney general for eight years, who is now an anti-death penalty activist.
"You are seeing that scepticism reflected in a lot of different ways. You are seeing juries more reluctant to issue death sentences. You are also seeing a different approach by district attorneys. Some are breaking with the past culture of seeking the death penalty whenever they can."
A fortnight ago, two men sentenced to death and life in prison for the murder of four teenagers in 1991 were cleared after sophisticated forensic tests from the crime scene did not match either man.
Other prisoners are also being released after DNA evidence. In Dallas county alone, 24 people have been exonerated and the new district attorney has created a conviction integrity unit to examine other suspected miscarriages of justice.
Recent attention has focused on a high profile case which may become the first officially acknowledged miscarriage of justice which led to a man being executed.
The governor of Texas, Rick Perry, has been accused of gerrymandering a commission examining the evidence against Cameron Todd Willingham who was executed in 2004 for the murder of his three young daughters in an arson attack on his home. Perry abruptly replaced the chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission as it was about to hold hearings into a report by its own expert, who described the conviction as based on "junk science". The new chairman called off the hearing.
Other states have moved swiftly to address concerns about potential miscarriages of justice.
The release of four men in New Mexico prompted the governor, Bill Richardson, to abolish the death penalty in the state earlier this year, saying: "I do not have confidence in the criminal justice system as it currently operates to be the final arbiter when it comes to who lives and who dies for their crime."
Six years ago, the governor of Illinois declared a moratorium on the death penalty after realising that the state had freed more men from death row than it had executed since 1976.
Death penalty supporters in Texas claim the numerous appeal processes protect against a wrongful conviction. "No one who's involved in criminal prosecution has ever claimed they are absolutely perfect," said Dudley Sharp, founder of a Texas victims rights group, Justice For All. "But with the death penalty in the United States you have a system that protects innocence to a greater degree than a life sentence ever could."
But Hall says the highly politicised judicial system in Texas, with elected prosecutors and judges, is part of the problem. "One of the problems with having an elected judiciary is that you end up with judges who have to become good politicians. That means appealing to the voters. The presiding judge on the court of criminal appeals, Sharon Keller, ran as a pro-prosecution judge. That was her phrase," he said.
Keller - known has Sharon Killer to her critics because of her enthusiasm for the death penalty - is at the centre of a controversy that has further undermined confidence in the death penalty, after she refused to keep a court office open after 5pm to allow a last-minute appeal for a stay of execution while the supreme court decided on another case that affected all executions in Texas. The convict, Michael Richard, was executed hours later.
Keller is awaiting a verdict from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct on charges of dereliction of duty.
Earlier this year, Keller turned down an appeal from a man on the brink of execution, despite revelations that the judge and prosecutor at his trial had been having an affair.
34 Comments so far
Show AllNice photo of Old Sparky.
Is that from a Texas Chamber of Commerce postcard?
If Canada continued to have Capital punishment we would have killed Paul Morin, David Milgaard, David Marshall, and Joshua Keser over last years. All of them proven innocent through DNA. How many innocent men has TEXAS killed? One innocent man is too many.
All of the people on the USA's death rows costs more in appeals than what it would cost to keep them in jail.
Being that the USA believes in privatization of their jail system and need to keep the population up for profit perhaps those who are incarcerated for nonviolent crime eg. marijuana could keep them going.
Aaaaawe, how sweet! Texas is having second thoughts... However, before y'all pull the plug, there's one more customer for that chair (and I think we all know who he is). In fact, I volunteer to throw the switch myself and watch the shrub burn!
Yeah, right on, let's give Bush the Chair he deserves, biggest war criminal since Truman genocided the Japs!
Is there a difference between executing an innocent man, and bombing innocent civilians, poisoning our citizens and denying basic health care, all for profit?
Except for the electric company, nobody profits from the electrocution of an innocent man.
See this, titled the "Lethal Injection College Fund".
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/11/13/notes111309.DTL
I'll bet few people have thought about the monetary cost of the death penalty "machinery"...not that there aren't other costs related to maintaining this barbarism.
On the other hand, violent crime has pretty much dried up in Texas and Virginia!
Oh, wait-- that doesn't sound right.
I guess we'll have to stick to the logic that the death penalty is TOO a Proven Deterrent, regardless of appearances; otherwise, those states would host wall-to-wall orgies of homicide, 24/7.
That logic also allows approving citizens to experience the warm thrill of righteous vengeance: it IS right, and it FEELS so right!
Satisfaction is so hard to come by in life that one shouldn't begrudge the ignorant and desperate from taking it where they find it, I reckon.
· Yr Obd't Servant
Has there been a decline in crime in the Asstate of Texas since the Burning Bush moved back into the neighborhood?
Two thoughts.
First, Texas is a perfect example why turning the judiciary into elected politicians is clearly a bad idea, especially given the level of ignorance of the voters.
Second, from reading many of the above comments, aside from veneer, there's not a lot to distinguish "progressives" from conservatives. They're both bloodthirsty.
The real challenge is to be charitable toward those you don't like. It's far easier to list all the reasons why they don't deserve to live. Of course, they're on the other side of the fence doing the same thing. So what was it again that makes us better than them?
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
Re. your second point, just because I said that the governor and Ms Keller committed murder, wittingly so, and that they should be held to the same standards they viciously apply to others, this does not necessarily mean that I am "bloodthirsty", as you claim. It makes you someone who clearly exaggerates and likes to superficially label others, if you think what I stated is at all about "bloodthirst".
Re. your first point, if electing the judiciary members is a bad idea, then what's the U.S. to do, since appointing the judiciary, if we go based on recent presidential administrations appointing "justices", which is all I know about such appointments, proves to also turn out rotten? Get rid of the judiciary?
There have been good examples of "justices" in some states, but I don't know if they were elected or appointed; and there have been some evidently good justices at the federal level, but I also don't know if they're always or only sometimes appointed.
"The real challenge is to be charitable toward those you don't like. It's far easier to list all the reasons why they don't deserve to live. Of course, they're on the other side of the fence doing the same thing. So what was it again that makes us better than them?"
Being charitable towards heinous people who hypocritically condemn others, including innocent, people to death is not a good prescription. They need to be held to the same standards that they apply to others. Anyone promoting or enouraging, even by implication, only, double-standards for political rule is NOT a friend of the innocent.
Being "charitable toward those you don't like" is fine for a very general statement, but not for a precise one. We can dislike someone just because they said something to us that we thought to be mean, for "crying out loud". The cases of the murders undeniably committed by the governor and Ms Keller isn't a question of whether we like these people or not; it's a question of being principled against double-standards, as well as against the application of the death penalty, for those of us who are also of the latter vein. Being against that penalty is not a question of disliking it; it's a question of knowing it's WRONG and for a number of reasons. It's wrong because a murderer can, instead, be kept imprisoned for life. But we know that it's also been wrongly applied too many times; either to undeserving criminals, criminals who either didn't commit a crime fitting death penalty punishment according to U.S. laws, or who did, but not of such a nature that he or she deserves to be put to death; while the other cases are when the penalty was applied to innocent people guilty of no crimes.
We can charitably demand the end to the double-standards, and can charitably treat the guilty leaders during their daily lives, until they finally hear and correctly act upon our calls or demands; but we can't charitably just accept that the wickedness continues while we say nothing, except to tell angry citizens who are right to be angry that they, instead, should be "charitable toward those you don't like".
It's not charitable when we are for wicked doers while being uncharitable to others in the process or at the same time. Charity doesn't feed or help one party with one hand while harming or starving another with the other hand. Some wicked magicians might like to try that trick, especially with many to be uncharitably acted against, but only the wicked would dream of it.
Real charity often needs to be accompanied with (loving) [discipline], instead of being done in a wishy-washy, dreamy way. The political and judicial leaderships need to correct their wrong ways, so with real discipline, charitably demand that they correct themselves, and if they refuse, then charitably demand that they hold themselves answerable to the same laws that they apply to others.
We can't make either of those outcomes happen, but can still place the demands and it's a civic duty to do so.
Charitably, not sacrificially, keep the many victims in mind.
Mike Corbeil, first of all, all federal judges are appointed for life terms. State judges are elected.
Secondly, you misconstrue my meaning of charity. I do not mean it to excuse unacceptable behavior and have never suggested that unacceptable behavior be tolerated in the name of charity. I have no idea how you reached that conclusion from my statements. And I maintain that wishing the same fate on killers is indeed bloodthirsty. But I can understand your discomfort in seeing it that way.
As for your convoluted arguments regarding the death penalty, how about the fact it is morally wrong to kill, regardless of who is doing the killing? Clarence Darrow got it right when he said "If you hate the idea of killing you're against the death penalty. If you love the idea of killing, you're for it". That would include anyone rationalizing who deserves to live or die, including you.
I do agree with your last 3 paragraphs.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
"The real challenge is to be charitable toward those you don't like. It's far easier to list all the reasons why they don't deserve to live. Of course, they're on the other side of the fence doing the same thing. So what was it again that makes us better than them?"
That challenge I like. It's possible to be basically nice to them without giving any special preference. I know I've gotten into trouble for advocating X-blind but sometimes a blind veil can help reduce those inequalities.
maxpayne, there's a difference between turning a blind eye and being charitable.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
That is true. I wouldn't turn a blind eye to someone who really needs assistance badly as in money, basic counseling, getting their car back on the road, etc ... I know I have come under fire for saying that I am color/gender/religion blind but sometimes that's the way to get to the basic equalities and rights without looking like one's doing their own form of discrimination for any particular race, gender, religion, etc...
maxpayne, I am not talking about someone whose car broke down. Christ on the cross was reported to have said, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do". In The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran powerfully addresses our collective responsibility in Crime and Punishment.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
"That means appealing to the voters. The presiding judge on the court of criminal appeals, Sharon Keller, ran as a pro-prosecution judge. That was her phrase," he said."
She actually ran on a platform of judicial misconduct. How appalling.
Texas Accounts for Half of Executions in US but Now Has Doubts Over Death Row
______________________________________
Texas? Doubts over Death Row?
Wait, don't tell me-- they "doubt" that the existing Death Row is BIG enough, so they're building a new state-of the-art Death Row, the size of the Mall of Amerika.
· Yr Obd't Servant
Actually, it's a good thing TX isn't seceding because if that were the case, Virginia would be the punchbag state for death penalty as well as being one of the states whose economy relies heaviest on military spending compared to most states.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States
WAIT, texas, please don't abolish the death penalty until Mr Bush has had an opportunity to sample the goods.
Not to mention that VA would be the punchbag state since it's currently the second highest on death penalty. See the wikipedia article I posted in my reply to OS.
Execution of the condemned in Texas is not enough. So Governor Perry has hired Dallas resident George Wanker Bush, a man known to most Texans and all Republicans as someone with a Direct Pipeline to the Almighty, to intercede on the state's behalf and ensure that the souls of all those executed are dispatched to Hell. This is something George Wanker Bush actually has some talent for.
Quote: "The governor of Texas, Rick Perry, has been accused of gerrymandering a commission examining the evidence against Cameron Todd Willingham who was executed in 2004 for the murder of his three young daughters in an arson attack on his home. Perry abruptly replaced the chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission as it was about to hold hearings into a report by its own expert, who described the conviction as based on "junk science". The new chairman called off the hearing."
That makes Gov. Perry guilty of murder, so give him the death penalty.
And Sharon Keller either comes hairline close to deserving the same, or she does deserve the same.
I'm against the death penalty, but can make a couple of exceptions, now and then, and the above two would "fit the bill".
And Bill Hall is SICK and idiot, quite a moron.
Strange, but I had the same thought before reading your response.
The USA should just give Texas back to Mexico..it is an embarassment to the country.
Oh no it must not. If that happens, VA will be the next punchbag state. I want it to stay number two or lower. We need Texas. ;)
I heard it said that the one good thing about the death penalty in Texas is that it means less Texans.
Now I'd never say anything like that, I just heard it somewhere...
That doesn't sound like a compliment you're making to Mexico. What causes you to think Mexico needs to absorb the hell of Texan culture? Or would you have the hellish fiends of Texas removed before handing the state back to Mexico? That would be the humane thing to do, instead of sending U.S. hell to other countries, [again].
Texas was taken at gun point. As was California. They should be returned.
Couldn't the same be said of AZ and NM? I think that those four states will never be given to Mexico but kept as buffer zone states. Mexico's government is way too corrupt and oppressive anyway.
Wasn't the whole US taken at gunpoint?
Yep, and so too was all of North and South America truth be told.
u.s. government is rotten from the core,
the corruption has spread outward,
all branches,
all levels.
Right On. Child-killers need to be hung-not everyone, usually non-white, these racist rednecks railroad, frame and set up!
Of course, George Bush....can he be executed, Please? Rove? Please?