"Review death penalty law, ex-governor urges," is the title of R.G. Ratcliffe's report in today's Houston Chronicle.
Former Gov. Mark White, who was involved in the executions of 20 condemned criminals, says it may be time for Texas to do away with the death penalty.
The death penalty is no longer a deterrent to murder, and long stays for the condemned on death row shows justice is not swift, White said.
More than anything, he said, he has grown concerned that the system is not administered fairly and that there are too many risks of executing innocent people.
White said the state needs to take a serious look at replacing the death penalty with life without parole.
“There is a very strong case to be made for a review of our death penalty statutes and even look at the possibility of having life without parole so we don't look up one day and determined that we as the state of Texas have executed someone who is in fact innocent,” said White.
And:
Noting that he does not know all the facts in the Willingham case, White said it shows how forensic science is evolving. White said there also has been at least one case of a death row inmate being cleared by modern DNA testing. That was the case of Michael Blair, a child sex offender who was convicted of killing Ashley Estell after a playground abduction, but exonerated when DNA testing indicated someone else likely was involved.
“That's two examples of why I think the system is so unreliable it creates an unnecessary possibility that an innocent person would be executed in Texas. And I don't think anybody in Texas wants that to happen,” White said.
The former Democratic governor also said he was upset by the incident in 2007 when the Court of Criminal Appeals was closed to an inmate's efforts to file a last-minute appeal based on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that came down earlier in the day of his execution. That case has resulted in a State Judicial Conduct Commission investigation of Presiding Judge Sharon Keller.
“That was a horrible procedural error,” White said.
White, as attorney general in 1982, represented the state in the first execution after the death penalty was reinstated. As governor from 1983 to 1987, he oversaw 19 executions.
White said during his tenure as governor, then-Attorney General Jim Mattox was in Huntsville and he remained by the telephone in case an execution needed to be halted at the last minute. White said none of the cases he handled involved claims of innocence.
White said he is not critical of Perry's handling of the Willingham case and would not second guess him.
Wayne Slater writes, "Arson case adds new twist to Texas candidates' death penalty stance," for the Dallas Morning News.
As the debate over whether the state executed an innocent man spills over into the governor's race, Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison are operating by a longtime rule of Texas politics: Don't mess with the death penalty.
Perry defends the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham and assures conservative voters who will decide the Republican primary that the state's system of capital punishment is sound.
Hutchison's task is more complicated. She argued that Perry, by politicizing the investigation, poses a threat to the death penalty by casting a cloud over the system.
History shows that in Texas, it's nearly impossible to be elected to statewide office without supporting capital punishment.
Polls show that nearly three-quarters of Texans support it, and the numbers are even higher among conservative Republicans.
But even among Democrats, support for the death penalty is a virtual requirement. In the robust Democratic primary in 1990, all three candidates tried to outdo each other on their willingness to execute the bad guys.
"There's a strong law-and-order tradition in Texas," said Corey Ditslear, a professor at the University of North Texas who specializes in judicial politics. "It's a frontier state, a breakaway from Mexico that charted its own path by maintaining law and order."
The Willingham investigation, though, could introduce an element that all candidates dislike: unpredictability.
And:
In 1990, Democrats seeking their party's gubernatorial nomination competed with each other over who was responsible for sending more people to the death chamber.
Ann Richards fended off a commercial in which Jim Mattox accused her of being the choice of Texas death-row inmates.
Mattox touted the fact that he attended most executions as attorney general and helped redesign how officials carried out the death penalty.
And former Gov. Mark White aired a commercial taking personal responsibility for those executed during his tenure.
Walking among the black-and-white portraits of men put to death, White said: "As governor, I made sure they received the ultimate punishment – death."
White, now a lawyer in Houston and the only one of the three Democratic candidates still living, said he supported capital punishment every time he ran for office but no longer does because of the risk of a mistake.
"We're very tough on crime in Texas," he said. "But as tough as old Mark was on crime and for the death penalty, when I review it today, I have very, very serious reservations about trusting our system of government making the right decision every time and not executing an innocent person."
Ditslear said that erosion of public support is reflected in polls. A 2007 poll conducted by Sam Houston State University, found that while 74 percent of Texans support the death penalty, that's down from 80 percent in 2001.
The commercials that Wayne Slater mentioned received so much attention that Saturday Night Live parodied them, a tough task given their already over the top nature.
Slater has more on the Trail Blazers blog at the DMN website, "Long time supporter ex-Gov. Mark White now doubts death penalty."
"Every time I ran for office I was for the death penalty. If I were running for office now, I would tell you that I think the system is not secure enough to make certain that we're not going to execute an innocent person at some future date. And therefore, I think we should see changes made to minimize that possibility. And that may include not having a death penalty but having life without parole."
White, a Democrat, took care to say he's not being critical of Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who has defended his actions in the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. But, as a lawyer, White said he's grown increasingly anxious about "the frailty of the system."
"We need a statewide lab. We need a lab that is completely independent of law enforcement. And we need one that will give a straight opinion as to whether this evidence is what it says it is or isn't. I have sincere questions about it. And today, I would much prefer that we put people in life without parole than see the prospect of one innocence person executed."
AP is distributing, "Ex-governor White urges rethink of death penalty," this morning, via the San Antonio Express-News.
There is a very strong case to be made for a review of our death penalty statutes and even look at the possibility of having life without parole so we don't look up one day and determine that we, as the state of Texas, have executed someone who in fact was innocent," he said.
White was the state attorney general in 1979-1983 and governor in 1983-1987 and was involved with 20 executions in both capacities.
Earlier Willingham coverage begins with the preceding post; related post in politics.
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