That's the title of James Ragland's latest column in the Saturday Dallas Morning News. LINK
Craig Watkins remains deeply conflicted about the death penalty.
But as Dallas County's district attorney, he took an extraordinary step this week to make clear that he's not, as some of his critics have suggested, "soft on crime," a reputation no doubt enhanced by his devout push to overturn wrongful convictions.
Mr. Watkins took the gloves off Wednesday, personally presenting closing arguments in the death-penalty case of Robert Sparks, convicted of fatally stabbing his wife and two young stepsons before raping two adolescent stepdaughters.
"He's a poster child for the death penalty," Mr. Watkins pointed out.
Now, if you're a poster child in Texas, a state that's presided over 18 of the nation's 37 executions carried out this year, that's saying an awful lot, none of which is flattering.
"I felt a responsibility to the victims and to the people of Dallas County to let them know we are going to punish people who commit violent, heinous crimes and hold them accountable," Mr. Watkins told me after the jury sentenced Mr. Sparks to death. "We're here to seek justice."
It was a bold, yet necessary, message for Mr. Watkins, who's already declared he'll seek re-election in two years.
"I think people were hungry to see that, to see that side of me," he said.
Mr. Watkins came into office facing questions about his lack of prosecutorial experience and his warm-and-fuzzy campaign rhetoric about being "smart on crime."
"What I respected about him when he ran for public office is that he had a very clear sense of how he thought he should do the job," Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle said.
Some critics ridiculed Mr. Watkins' "smart on crime" slogan as "hug a thug," Chief Kunkle said, but the district attorney has worked diligently with police to get habitual or "impact" offenders off the streets, a move the chief said has helped reduce crime.
So far, the chief said, "I'm impressed."
Despite such accolades, Mr. Watkins is best known for setting free wrongfully convicted prisoners in a county that leads the nation in DNA exonerations.
An earlier unrelated post about the Sparks trial is here.
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