The Texas Tribune posts, "James Liebman: The TT Interview," conducted by Brandi Grissom. There is video at the link.
Now, more than two decades after DeLuna's execution, Columbia University law school professor James Liebman and a team of students have uncovered evidence they say proves that Carlos DeLuna was innocent, and that Carlos Hernandez not only was real but was probably the real killer. They released their findings in a book-length monograph and website published by the Columbia Human Rights Law Review on Tuesday.
"I'm convinced that no jury could possibly have convicted Carlos DeLuna beyond a reasonable doubt on the evidence here. That's absolutely clear," Liebman said in a videotaped interview with the Tribune from Columbia University in New York. Liebman discussed the lengthy in-depth investigation that the team conducted, which he said revealed that Hernandez had a long history of violent crimes, that police worked too fast, that important leads were never followed and that, in the end, even DeLuna's execution may have been botched. "Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong," he said.
And:
Carlos DeLuna protested his innocence until his death. At his execution, the Rev. Carroll Pickett, the death house chaplain, said DeLuna asked if he could call him Daddy and held the pastor's hand as long as he could.
"I fully believe that Carlos DeLuna was an innocent man, and I will always believe that," Pickett said.
At the Guardian, Ed Piklington writes, "Wrongful execution of Carlos DeLuna: highlights from our Reddit discussion."
Issue 3: How did a Columbia investigator uncover in a day what Texas police weren't able to find in six years?
Liebman: If you don't look hard, you won't find, and I fear that this is a case where the responsible people didn't look hard because they believed that they had quickly arrested the right man. As sometimes happens, minds closed before the evidence was in.
Pilkington: Yes. When I read that I nearly fell off my chair.
Issue 4: Will public opinion be affected?
Liebman: There is a vibrant debate about the death penalty in the US just now and the public is paying close attention. We wrote this article so it could provide information on that debate to the public in a very accessible way. I have faith in the facts and in the public's ability to make reasoned judgments on matters of policy over time. And it takes time. In fact, public opinion on the opinion has changed dramatically over the past 15 years in the US and it has had an impact. Juries are imposing one-third as many death sentences each year now, compared to 1999.
Earlier coverage of the case of Carlos DeLuna and the Columbia HRLR article begins with the preceding post. All coverage is in the Carlos DeLuna category index.
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