All My Ex's Live In Texas

Texas Gov Perry never lets the facts get in the way of killing an innocent man:

Controversy Builds in Texas Over an Execution

Questions about whether Gov. Rick Perry allowed the execution of a man some arson experts say may have been innocent, and then hindered an investigation into the evidence, continue to reverberate across Texas, where issues surrounding capital punishment have rarely stirred such controversy.
[...]
Three weeks ago Mr. Perry replaced the chairman and two other members of the State Forensic Science Commission, which was about to hold hearings on the evidence in the case. The new chairman, a close ally of the governor, promptly canceled a hearing at which a second, independent arson expert was to testify. The commission’s expert, Craig L. Beyler of Baltimore, had concluded in a lengthy report that the evidence did not prove that Mr. Willingham set the fire that killed his three daughters in 1991.
[...]
Last week Mr. Perry defended his decision and struck back at his critics. “Willingham was a monster,” he said.
[...]
Governor Perry has also refused to release the memorandum from his general counsel on which he based his decision to let the execution proceed. He says the memorandum is protected by attorney-client privilege.

The only monster I see is a governor running for re-election that refuses to release documents that the citizens of Texas paid for.

But wait, there's more!Governor Goodhair, (big thanks to Molly Ivins wherever you are), AKA Gov Rick Perry R-TexAss, thinks it's OK to have his ABC commissioner solicit bribes campaign donations on his behalf from the very folks they regulate.

I think that's usually called a 'protection racket.' He's as crooked as a snake in a hall of fractured mirrors.

I know most Texans loves them some death penalty, but are they willing to kill an innocent man!? I think not. I lived in Texas. Justice was harsh, but it wasn't crooked.

Think of your better angels. In the mean time enjoy this:




Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

Sometimes I feel like I'm dyin'

In the U.S., 37 states plus the military and the Federal government retain the death penalty. Thankfully, today we're one step closer to making that number smaller:

New Jersey moved closer to eliminating the death penalty on Monday when its Senate and an Assembly committee voted in favor of making life in prison without parole the state's top criminal penalty.

The Democrat-controlled upper house Senate voted by 21 to 16 to scrap the death penalty after the lower house Assembly's law and public safety committee approved the same measure by a vote of 5-1.

The move now needs to be voted on by the full Assembly on Thursday. If approved New Jersey will become the first state to legislatively abolish its death penalty since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.

Certain things in life are black & white to me; this is one of them. This from Wikipedia sums it up well for me:

Opponents of capital punishment argue that it does not deter criminals more than life imprisonment, violates human rights, leads to executions of some who are wrongfully convicted, and discriminates against minorities and the poor.

This isn't the only good news this month. From The Innocence Project:

On the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court order stopping the execution of Thomas Arthur based on a challenge to the constitutionality of lethal injections procedures, the Innocence Project today renewed and broadened its calls for Alabama Governor Bob Riley to order DNA testing that could prove Arthur’s guilt or innocence.

The Innocence Project, which has pressed the case with Riley’s senior staff for months, wrote to Riley today asking for DNA testing. The Innocence Project also launched a web-based campaign today, mobilizing thousands of people in Alabama and nationwide to write to Riley and urge him to order DNA testing in the case. To see the online campaign, go to www.innocenceproject.org/testing-for-tommy.

Since August, the Innocence Project has been requesting DNA testing in the case but Riley has refused. In today’s letter, Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld urged Riley to immediately order testing in the case, while the execution is stayed.

I have no hope that Riley (R-Execution) will act to stop the death penalty in Alabama, but we take our victories where we can get them. If DNA testing does prove Arthur innocent, that will be in addition to the over 200 people the Innocence Project has exonerated, including several actually sentenced to death. This page from their site details the many ways in which people can be wrongly accused and convicted:

Eyewitness Misidentification
Unreliable or Limited Science
False Confessions
Forensic Science Fraud or Misconduct
Government Misconduct
Informants or Snitches
Bad Lawyering

If you're someone who leans toward supporting the death penalty, just think how easy it would be for you to become one of those wrongfully convicted.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Judge, Jury and Executioner ... or ... Son, we're gonna give you a fair trial ... and then we'll hang you.

Gonzales to Get Power In Death Penalty Cases
Rules Would Expand Fast-Track Authority

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, under political siege for his handling of the U.S. attorney firings and other issues, is to get expanded powers to hasten death penalty cases under regulations being developed by the Justice Department.
[...]
Such powers were previously held by federal judges, but a provision of the USA Patriot Act reauthorization bill approved by Congress last year hands the authority to the attorney general.
[...]
Some Democratic lawmakers have questioned Gonzales's judgment about the death penalty, including his refusal to hear the concerns of a federal prosecutor in Arizona, Paul K. Charlton, who argued against pursuing a death sentence in a case in which no body had been recovered.

Charlton and several other U.S. attorneys were fired last year in part because of clashes with Gonzales and his aides over death penalty issues, according to documents and testimony.

Why, why, why would a prosecutor EVER be given the right to 'fast track' killing someone? The system of justice in this country is based on an adversarial process. DAs try to convict, defense attorneys try to acquit/mitigate and judges and jurys decide.

Not to mention that when Gonzo previously had the job of clemency petitions for then Governor Bush he constantly left out exculpatory evidence.

And with Gonzos' help Bush executed more people in America than any other natural born killer. I guess that's why they call them 'texacutions.'

And Bush's callousness involving killing folks is documented, just ask Karla Faye Tucker ... oh, that's right you can't, she's dead.

And it's not like a 'fast track' doesn't already exist:

Courts are restricted from hearing new evidence due to a 1996 federal law, intended to limit the number of appeals in death penalty cases and thereby expedite executions.

So enough of my rant, let's look at some numbers:

two out of three sentences were overturned on appeal, mostly because of serious errors by incompetent defense lawyers or overzealous police officers and prosecutors who withheld evidence.
[...]
75 percent of the people whose death sentences were set aside were later given lesser sentences after retrials, in plea bargains or by order of a judge. An additional 7 percent were found not guilty on retrial.

Cross posted at VidiotSpeak