That's the title of Roger Barnes' OpEd in today's San Antonio Express-News. He's the Chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio.
Death penalty advocates have long maintained there is no evidence that Texas ever executed an innocent person.
It is time for these folks to fess up. Texas has executed an innocent person.
I base this upon a recent Columbia University Human Rights Law Review report. If ever there is evidence that we got it wrong and executed an innocent person, this is it.
Wanda Lopez, a convenience store clerk in Corpus Christi, was brutally knifed to death in 1983. Carlos DeLuna was executed in 1989 for the murder. But an 18-month investigation led by Professor James Liebman concludes it was most likely another man who committed the murder.
This report (which may be accessed at www.thewrongcarlos.net) details how Texas executed the wrong man. Video clips, police records, audio interviews and notes from 100 witness interviews paint a vivid picture of the system flaws that led to DeLuna's execution.
And:
We know the system makes mistakes. Since 1987, 12 death row prisoners have been exonerated in Texas, the most recent in 2010. No one wants to see innocent people on death row. The exonerations at least set people free, albeit after grave injustices. We cannot bring Carlos DeLuna back. Execution is final.
Not surprisingly, the innocence issue is a major reason why more people are challenging the death penalty. The innocence issue is also a reason why five states have abolished the death penalty.
Earlier coverage of Carlos DeLuna and the Columbia HRLR article begins at the link.
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