Today's Houston Chronicle reports, "Lawyers: HPD officer's killer should get life in retrial." It's by Brian Rogers.
Carl Wayne Buntion has stayed out of trouble for more than two decades, his attorneys say, so he should face a life sentence, not execution, for gunning down a Houston police officer in 1990.
But it was easy for the 68-year-old to keep his nose clean, says the officer's widow - he was by himself in a death row cell.
"I think that's a load of horse manure," said Maura Irby. "He's intelligent enough to not misbehave, so on the off chance he won an appeal, he could get out."
Opening arguments in the retrial of the punishment phase of Buntion's capital murder trial are expected Wednesday.
Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos said last year that she intended to seek the death penalty in several cases like Buntion's that have to be retried because an appeals court ruled the original juries were not able to properly consider defense evidence.
And:
"If the jury follows the law, they're going to answer 'no' to the issue of whether he is a future danger," said Casey Keirnan. "Mr. Buntion has been in prison for 22 years and hasn't had a single write-up."
To secure a death penalty, prosecutors have to prove several issues including that Buntion is more likely than not going to commit criminal acts of violence in the future and be a continuing threat to society.
"And 'society' means prison, because that's where he is," Keirnan said.
If jurors agree with Buntion's lawyers, he will get a life sentence. And under the rules as they were in 1990, he could be eligible for parole, a development that prosecutors fear and defense lawyers scoff at.
Even if Buntion is gifted with a life sentence, Keirnan said, he will die in prison.
"The reality is he will never, ever, ever make parole," the lawyer said. "There is no 'mandatory parole' and they will never let him out."
Earlier coverage of the Harris County case is at the link. Problems with Texas' jury charge in death penalty cases were first ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the 1989 case, Penry v. Lynaugh. That ruling was more fully applied following the 2007 case, Abdul-Kabir v. Quarterman; more on both cases via Oyez.
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