Death penalty moratorium needed
Monday, December 29, 2008
The year draws to a close with Texas in its familiar No. 1 place
nationally in capital punishment statistics (18 of the nation's 37
executions in 2008). It has also been a year rich with examples of
why this state should stop its error-prone machinery of death.
For a change, discussion about flawed justice need not start in
Dallas County, the nation's ground zero for DNA exonerations. Just to
the north, Collin County illustrates how even a highly educated,
affluent community can get it wildly wrong in the high-stakes gamble
called capital punishment.
No murder case more nauseated North Texas than the 1993 strangulation
of 7-year-old Ashley Estell after she was plucked from a Plano city
park. A Collin County jury deliberated only 27 minutes before
convicting serial molester Michael Blair of capital murder. It took
far longer – 14 years – for the truth to fully emerge. DNA and other
forensic tests undermined the case so thoroughly that a judge
dismissed the conviction this summer.
In a second discredited case, evidence has never been a question.
Rather, it took 18 years for the truth to emerge about an illicit
sexual affair that the trial judge had been having with Collin County
District Attorney Tom O'Connell, who personally asked jurors for the
death sentence. The double murder conviction against Charles Dean
Hood raised serious questions of corrupted ethics this summer, and
the courts have yet to address it.
There is no quick or neat fix for breakdowns in justice that range
from poor technology to dishonesty among officers of the court.
Dozens of DNA exonerations across the state – including the nation-
leading 19 in Dallas County – have demonstrated how unreliable
eyewitness testimony can be. Further, statistics indicate a
disturbing arbitrariness of capital punishment, varying greatly by
county. Data also show that a killer is far likelier to die for
killing a white person.
It's notable that a veteran state lawmaker from conservative Collin
County, Plano's Brian McCall, is sufficiently concerned about the
justice system that he favors a two-year moratorium on executions in
Texas. Mr. McCall is a Republican with law-and-order bona fides,
having authored legislation in 1994 creating the state's first
criminal DNA database.
That tool has achieved its primary objective of helping law
enforcement officials identify culprits and solve crimes. It has also
offered new perspective on how much more reform our system of laws
requires before we can be confident that fatal error will never occur
in Huntsville's busy death chamber.
It's the view of this newspaper that the justice system will never be
foolproof and, therefore, use of the death penalty is never justified.
Mr. McCall comes at the question differently, asserting the deterrent
benefits of capital punishment and arguing at the same time for
better safeguards against bias and failure.
On the need for better safeguards, this newspaper finds common ground
with Mr. McCall. On the need for a hiatus in Huntsville, we hope
lawmakers who convene in Austin next year will find the courage
confront the issue. READ MORE about why this newspaper reversed its
100-plus years of support for the death penalty.
dallasnews.com/deathnomore
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/ stories/DN-death_29edi.State.Edition1.1eb1ec0.html
