Life sentence preferable

November 15, 2008


Editor, the Leader-News:

As a long-time observer of capital murder trials in Texas, I was
saddened to read that the Wharton County District Attorney, Josh
McCowan, sought and achieved the death penalty for James Freeman, who
was accused of murdering game warden Justin Hurst.

The pain and suffering experienced by the family of Justin Hurst are
beyond description. They will always have to carry this wound with
them and it was understandable that some of them would like to see
James Freeman executed for what he did. However, the death penalty is
not the answer to their pain.

It would have been wise for the Wharton County District Attorney to
have sought the optional punishment of life without parole for
Freeman. There are several reasons for this:

1. The death penalty with its long and drawn out appeals process is
significantly more expensive than the alternative punishment of life
without parole. A study by the Dallas Morning News in 1992 showed
that the average cost of a death penalty case in Texas was $2.3
million dollars vs. $800,000 for a life sentence. Studies in several
other states have shown similar results.

2. Because the death penalty process takes several years to complete,
the family and friends of the victim ride a roller coaster for many
years waiting for an execution to take place. Many times the
execution does not occur because of legal glitches in the case or
because the laws have changed. If it does occur, the family of the
victim never receives the closure that has been promised by the
district attorney. It just doesn't work that way.

3. Life without parole, which was passed by the Texas Legislature in
2005, is an alternative punishment for capital murder which severely
punishes the offender, protects society and allows the family of the
victim to move on with their lives.

District attorneys are politicians who want to appear tough on crime
and get re-elected. It is understandable that they will often say
that they are pursuing the death penalty to bring justice to the
family of the victim and make society safer. However, these goals can
be accomplished through the less-expensive alternative of life
without parole.

The citizens of Wharton County should object to their precious tax
dollars going down a rat hole when the less-expensive, yet effective,
punishment of life without parole was available to the district
attorney.

David Atwood

Houston Founder of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

http://www.leader- news.com/ news/2008/ 1115/viewpoint/ 013.html