Executions Maintain Steady Clip
By Jordan Smith
Capital punishment convictions declined in 2008, but the Huntsville
death machine did not slow – from June through November, the state
executed 18 inmates, accounting for half of all executions nationwide.
The total number of inmates executed likely would've been higher were
it not for the de facto stay that's in effect pending the U.S.
Supreme Court's decision in a case that challenged the lethal
injection method as unconstitutional. The method is legal, the
Supremes opined (at least as practiced in Kentucky, where the case
originated), and their decision opened the doors of the Texas death
chamber once more. Whether the practice will again be challenged by a
state with a more extensive record of executions – read, Texas –
remains to be seen.
Of the 18 people put to death, nine were black, six were white, and
three were Hispan ic, reports the Texas Coalition to Abolish the
Death Penalty, in its second annual report on capital punishment in
Texas. According to the report, 10 inmates received a stay of
execution in 2008 (four were ultimately executed), and eight inmates
were released from the row when their sentences were commuted to life
in prison.
One inmate, Michael Blair, was exonerated after DNA testing failed to
connect him to the rape-murder of 7-year-old Ashley Estell. Blair is
the ninth inmate exonerated from Texas' death row. He spent 14 years
on the row for Estell's murder. (Blair remains in prison, however,
where he's serving life for other crimes.)
Copyright © 2008 Austin Chronicle Corporation.
