Texas on pace to execute far more in 2009

Texas on pace to execute far more in 2009

BY ANNA M. TINSLEY
atinsley@star-telegram.com
As states debate whether to stop executing criminals, Texas – long 
the nationwide leader in executions – has picked up the pace and is 
on a rate to execute perhaps twice as many Death Row inmates this 
year as in 2008.

On Tuesday, Texas marked its 11th execution of the year and the 12th 
is scheduled for tonight, moving the state closer to last year’s 18 
executions – a lower-than-average number because executions were 
frozen for months last year as the Supreme Court studied whether 
lethal injection was unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment.

"Texas is far and away the most frequent user of the death penalty," 
said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist 
University. "We are on a tear here in 2009.

"If it’s an eye for an eye, we take far more eyes than every other 
state," he said. "The rest of the country looks at us and wonders 
what we are doing."

Since 1976, there have been 432 executions in Texas, far more than in 
Virginia, which had the second highest number of executions with 103, 
according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Some states are clamoring to abolish the deadly practice. Even in 
Texas, bills have been filed to do away with the death penalty, since 
life without parole is now an option.

But state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, said he doesn’t expect that 
to impact what has long been called the "conveyor belt of death" in 
Texas.

"This Legislature isn’t going to deal with it," said Burnam, who is 
co-sponsoring bills to stop the death penalty here. "I think it’s 
immoral. It’s pre-planned, pre-meditated, state-sponsored murder.

"It’s barbaric."

There are 348 inmates on Death Row in Texas, including 24 convicted 
in Tarrant County, state records show.

Changing times

President Barack Obama has indicated he favors executions only in the 
most extreme cases, but he hasn’t publicly focused much on the issue. 
But he could have a big impact through the years, by appointing 
judges to federal courts who will weigh in on the issue.

States such as New Mexico are looking at whether to let the costly 
death penalty system die. Some officials complain that costs are 
skyrocketing, making the procedure nearly out of reach. In Kansas, a 
lawmaker even proposed using execution funds to instead help with a 
budget shortfall.

"States know in these economic times that they have to cut something, 
whether it’s police forces, prisons or libraries," said Richard C. 
Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a 
Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit research center that opposes the 
death penalty. "The death penalty is something that’s being considered."

The cost is just a new tactic used by death penalty opponents, said 
William Rusty Hubbarth, an Austin attorney and vice president of 
Justice For All, a victim’s advocacy group.

"No one is saying deny them due process," he said. "But the cost (of 
keeping an inmate on Death Row for years) is instigated by the 
defense, by appealing, and they say it’s too expensive.

"The costs come from maintaining that person’s life."

A recent effort to repeal the Maryland death penalty died, but New 
Jersey in 2007 successfully abolished using the death penalty.

Burnam, who has signed on to bills seeking to abolish Texas 
executions, said he doesn’t expect to have much success this session.

"This isn’t about the present," Burnam said. "It’s about trying to 
build for the future."

'Justice is swift’

Executions were down last year because the U.S. Supreme Court halted 
executions between September 2007 and April 2008 to review whether 
lethal injections were unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment.

Once the hold was removed, Texas executed 18 Death Row inmates in the 
last eight months of the year. Virginia had the second most 
executions last year, with four.

Critics chastise Texas for the number of executions and the frequency 
at which they are done.

Even Fort Worth’s Italian sister city – Reggio Emilia, Italy – has 
threatened to cut ties if city leaders didn’t denounce capital 
punishment. City officials declined.

If no delays are issued, Texas will have executed 16 prisoners by 
June, Texas Department of Criminal Justice records show.

"I don’t think Texas is going to ban the death penalty," said 
Jillson, of SMU. "But it would behoove us to look at the practices 
and see why we are so out of balance with the rest of the country."


ANNA M. TINSLEY, 817-390-7610