That the title of an Austin American-Statesman editorial. It appeared in the Saturday edition. LINK
Two criminals, both with guns fired at the scene. Two shooting victims. One dies, one does not.
Two trials, both for capital murder because of a state law that makes all participants in a crime that includes a slaying potentially just as guilty as the triggerman.
For whatever reason, one jury sentences the man who killed someone to life in prison. For whatever reason, another jury sentences the man who didn't kill anyone to death by injection.
The latter case winds its way through the courts and to the governor's desk. The courts uphold the conviction and sentence. But, en route to the governor's desk, a panel of gubernatorial appointees recommends commutation from death to life in prison for the man who did not kill anybody.
No, says the governor, the jury and the criminal justice system have spoken and must be respected.
For whatever reason, that's the system we have in Texas today. It again has produced inconsistent results that should give pause to even the most ardent of death penalty supporters.
Thursday evening, about 30 minutes before Robert Lee Thompson was scheduled to die, Gov. Rick Perry announced he was rejecting the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommendation to commute the sentence.
And:
But the Thompson and Turner cases offer a chilling reminder that the death sentence is meted out inconsistently in Texas. Evidence in the trials showed that both men were evil. But Thompson was executed for a slaying committed by an accomplice who prosecutors failed to show intended to commit murder.
Once again: Thompson — though not for lack of effort — did not kill anybody. Under state law, he was equally culpable for any slayings that took place at the crime scene. There was a slaying, but jurors returned a life sentence for the man who committed it because they were not convinced he intended to kill somebody.
Taken individually, it's possible to justify the outcome of the two cases. Perhaps Thompson deserved to die. Perhaps Butler deserved to spend life in prison.
But lined up side-by-side, it's hard to see the cases as anything other than another example of inconsistency in the Texas death penalty.
Earlier coverage begins with this post. Related articles are in the law of parties category index.
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