Perry: Butt Out

Yesterday, I posted the AP report of the European Union's call for Texas to suspend capital punishment.  Governor Rick Perry's spokesman, Robert Black, had this response:

“230 years ago, our forefathers fought a war to throw off the yoke of a European monarch and gain the freedom of self-determination. Texans long ago decided that the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens. While we respect our friends in Europe, welcome their investment in our state and appreciate their interest in our laws, Texans are doing just fine governing Texas.”

Peggy Fikac of the San Antonio Express-News has this report, which also appears in its sister paper, the Houston Chronicle.

As Texas prepares today to make Johnny Ray Conner its 400th executed inmate since the state resumed the death penalty in 1982, the European Union is asking Gov. Rick Perry to do all he can to halt the practice.

Perry said, in essence, it's none of the EU's business.    

The governor's spokesman, Robert Black, said in a statement that "230 years ago, our forefathers fought a war to throw off the yoke of a European monarch and gain the freedom of self-determination.

"Texans long ago decided that the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens. While we respect our friends in Europe, welcome their investment in our state and appreciate their interest in our laws, Texans are doing just fine governing Texas."

It's not the first time the EU has sought such action, and it hasn't        been alone in doing so.    

One of the most high-profile Texas cases occurred in 1998, when pickax-murderer-turned-born-again-Christian Karla Faye Tucker's impending execution drew thousands of messages worldwide, mostly opposing the execution.

Then-Gov. George W. Bush refused to grant a 30-day delay, making        Tucker's execution No. 145 since 1982.

AP has this report, via the Dallas Morning News.

The European Union on Tuesday urged Texas Gov. Rick Perry to halt this evening what would be the state's 400th execution since the death penalty was resumed in 1982.

The unusual direct request included an appeal for a moratorium on capital punishment in the United States' busiest death penalty state.

Perry spokesman Robert Black responded that while Texas "respects our friends in Europe" the state would decline the call for a moratorium.

"Texans long ago decided that the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens," he said.

The death penalty is banned in the 27-nation EU, which also fights for its global abolition.

"The irreversibility of the punishment means that miscarriages of justice – which are inevitable in all legal systems – cannot be redressed," EU officials said in a statement.

Johnny Ray Conner, 32, is scheduled to be executed this evening for the shooting death of a Houston grocery store owner during an attempted holdup in 1998.