Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 26, 2006 6:33:18 GMT -5
David Atwood, Commentary, San Antonio Express-News
George W. Bush once said he did not believe an innocent person was among the people executed while he was governor of Texas.
To my knowledge, similar claims have not been made by Ann Richards, who preceded Bush, or Rick Perry, who succeeded him.
Fifty executions occurred under Richards, 152 under Bush and 129 under Perry as of Thursday. Texas has executed 368 people as of Thursday since executions resumed in 1982, making it the undisputed death penalty champ. Virginia comes in a distant second with 95 executions.
During the past year, three men have risen from the grave in Texas and said they were innocent of the crime for which they were put to death: Carlos De Luna, executed in 1989; Ruben Cantu, executed in 2003; and Cameron Todd Willingham, executed in 2004.
Questions of Cantu's innocence were the result of investigative reporting by the Houston Chronicle, while questions of innocence in the De Luna and Willingham cases were the result of investigative reporting by the Chicago Tribune.
These claims of innocence are a bitter pill for Texas politicians who are strong supporters of the death penalty. They claim the Texas death penalty system works perfectly fine as opposed to Illinois, where a commission recommended 85 improvements to its criminal justice system after a number of innocent people were discovered on its death row. Because of concern with the fallibility of the Illinois system, Gov. George Ryan declared a
moratorium on executions, pardoned several men and commuted to life the sentences of the remaining people on death row before he left office.
You can rest assured that such bold action has never been contemplated in Texas, which prides itself on the efficiency of its execution machinery. In fact, Texas cannot find the wherewithal to conduct a thorough investigation when a case of possible innocence is revealed. After all, such a study might conclude an innocent person has been executed and the system isn't so
perfect after all.
Defense attorneys point to a number of other cases where there were strong claims of innocence. A good example is Odell Barnes Jr., who was executed on Bush's watch. One piece of evidence that linked Barnes to the crime was a spot of blood on his clothing that matched the blood of the victim.
As Barnes' execution date neared, his attorneys had this spot of blood carefully tested and found it contained a chemical used to preserve blood in a test tube. If the blood had come directly from the victim, it could not have contained the chemical. Anyone can speculate on how the blood got on Barnes' clothing. This potential exculpatory evidence was uncovered after Barnes' conviction, but was not allowed to be presented in court because of the passing of established deadlines in the process. Barnes was executed March 1, 2000.
Similar claims of innocence have been made for Gary Graham, David Wayne Spence, James Lee Beathard, David Stoker, Richard Wayne Jones, Robert Drew, Leonel Herrera and others. One cannot say for sure that all these people were innocent. However, one can say with certainty that Texas has never had
the courage or integrity to establish an independent commission to research these claims of innocence.
Recently, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia challenged his
colleagues to present one case where DNA evidence had shown an innocent person had been executed. I don't believe DNA should be the only criteria for making a claim of innocence. DNA evidence is not available in a lot of murder cases. Most people have been convicted on other evidence.
If an official post-execution review shows an innocent person was executed, that should be good enough for Scalia and other death penalty proponents. It should also be good enough evidence to shut down the death penalty apparatus of this country once and for all. Perhaps that is why Texas officials prefer to avoid the issue altogether.
Source : San Antonio Express-News (David Atwood of Houston is founder of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty)
www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/stories/MYSA072306.5H.atwoodcomment.50eb
George W. Bush once said he did not believe an innocent person was among the people executed while he was governor of Texas.
To my knowledge, similar claims have not been made by Ann Richards, who preceded Bush, or Rick Perry, who succeeded him.
Fifty executions occurred under Richards, 152 under Bush and 129 under Perry as of Thursday. Texas has executed 368 people as of Thursday since executions resumed in 1982, making it the undisputed death penalty champ. Virginia comes in a distant second with 95 executions.
During the past year, three men have risen from the grave in Texas and said they were innocent of the crime for which they were put to death: Carlos De Luna, executed in 1989; Ruben Cantu, executed in 2003; and Cameron Todd Willingham, executed in 2004.
Questions of Cantu's innocence were the result of investigative reporting by the Houston Chronicle, while questions of innocence in the De Luna and Willingham cases were the result of investigative reporting by the Chicago Tribune.
These claims of innocence are a bitter pill for Texas politicians who are strong supporters of the death penalty. They claim the Texas death penalty system works perfectly fine as opposed to Illinois, where a commission recommended 85 improvements to its criminal justice system after a number of innocent people were discovered on its death row. Because of concern with the fallibility of the Illinois system, Gov. George Ryan declared a
moratorium on executions, pardoned several men and commuted to life the sentences of the remaining people on death row before he left office.
You can rest assured that such bold action has never been contemplated in Texas, which prides itself on the efficiency of its execution machinery. In fact, Texas cannot find the wherewithal to conduct a thorough investigation when a case of possible innocence is revealed. After all, such a study might conclude an innocent person has been executed and the system isn't so
perfect after all.
Defense attorneys point to a number of other cases where there were strong claims of innocence. A good example is Odell Barnes Jr., who was executed on Bush's watch. One piece of evidence that linked Barnes to the crime was a spot of blood on his clothing that matched the blood of the victim.
As Barnes' execution date neared, his attorneys had this spot of blood carefully tested and found it contained a chemical used to preserve blood in a test tube. If the blood had come directly from the victim, it could not have contained the chemical. Anyone can speculate on how the blood got on Barnes' clothing. This potential exculpatory evidence was uncovered after Barnes' conviction, but was not allowed to be presented in court because of the passing of established deadlines in the process. Barnes was executed March 1, 2000.
Similar claims of innocence have been made for Gary Graham, David Wayne Spence, James Lee Beathard, David Stoker, Richard Wayne Jones, Robert Drew, Leonel Herrera and others. One cannot say for sure that all these people were innocent. However, one can say with certainty that Texas has never had
the courage or integrity to establish an independent commission to research these claims of innocence.
Recently, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia challenged his
colleagues to present one case where DNA evidence had shown an innocent person had been executed. I don't believe DNA should be the only criteria for making a claim of innocence. DNA evidence is not available in a lot of murder cases. Most people have been convicted on other evidence.
If an official post-execution review shows an innocent person was executed, that should be good enough for Scalia and other death penalty proponents. It should also be good enough evidence to shut down the death penalty apparatus of this country once and for all. Perhaps that is why Texas officials prefer to avoid the issue altogether.
Source : San Antonio Express-News (David Atwood of Houston is founder of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty)
www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/stories/MYSA072306.5H.atwoodcomment.50eb