Full Version: Texas May Have Put Innocent Man To Death
OLD American Century / White Rose Society message boards > Political Discussion forums > Politics In General
| QUOTE |
| Texas May Have Put Innocent Man to Death, Panel Told April 20, 2005 Steve Mills Chicago Tribune With Texas' criminal justice system the subject of intense scrutiny for a crime lab scandal and a series of wrongful convictions, a state Senate committee heard testimony Tuesday about the possibility that Texas had experienced the ultimate criminal justice nightmare: the execution of an innocent person. Fourteen months after Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in the nation's busiest death chamber, a renowned arson expert and Willingham's lawyer told the Senate Criminal Justice Committee that they believed Willingham might have been innocent but found nobody willing to listen to their claim in the days before the execution in February 2004. "This was a frustrating case, and it was frustrating because it appeared that we could not get anybody to listen," said attorney Walter Reaves, who represented Willingham. "To say that this case was thoroughly reviewed," Reaves added, "I have my doubts." The execution of Willingham, convicted of the December 1991 arson fire that killed his three young daughters, was a focus of a hearing into a proposed innocence commission. Texas Gov. Rick Perry has, by executive order, set up his own committee. But critics, including state Sen. Rodney Ellis, a longtime advocate of criminal justice reform in Texas, and Barry Scheck, a co-founder of the New York-based Innocence Project, told the senators that to be effective the governor's panel needed to subpoena sworn testimony, obtain documents and seek forensic testing. Ellis, a Houston Democrat, has sponsored legislation to beef up the power of Perry's panel. "Without subpoena power and the ability to order testing, I don't see how the committee can get to the bottom of these cases," Scheck said after testifying. "I haven't heard of a committee that didn't want all of those things. If you want to find out the truth, you have to have the mechanisms to do it." A Tribune investigation of the Willingham case last December showed that he was prosecuted and convicted based primarily on arson theories that have since been repudiated by scientific advances--a fact backed up by testimony Tuesday by one of those experts, Gerald Hurst. http://www.civilrights.org/issues/cj/details.cfm?id=30368 |
I seriously doubt this was the first time this has happened, and, as long as we continue to kill people under the guise of justice, it won't be the last.
| QUOTE |
| seriously doubt this was the first time this has happened, and, as long as we continue to kill people under the guise of justice, it won't be the last. |
Texas has a bad rep for not paying much attention to what constitutes justice. Like the tourist commercials say: "Texas: It's a WHOLE Other Country." After all, George Bush is from Texas, and as governor of that state, he had his hairy monkey's paw in anything and everything that is corrupt in it. His daddy, his "beautiful minded" mother (gag), and granddaddy Prescott the Nazi showed him how to do it. In things corrupt, Georgy doesn't have a learning disability. He carried that Texas family tradition all the way to Washington, DC. He's been practicing it since he was appointed president by the SC and the Diebold voting machines.
Catherine
| QUOTE (Catherine @ Tuesday, 26 April 2005, 4:48 pm) |
| "Texas: It's a WHOLE Other Country." |
I've got a minor correction...
It's a whole other Third World Country!
(Many apologies to my Texas Progressive Friends.)
My son lives in Texas and LIKES it. He married a Texas girl. She's a beloved member of our family. Her husband is, too. 
All Texans aren't like the Bush family nor are they like Tom Delay. Sometimes it just seems that way. All Tennesseans aren't like Bill Frist, and all North Carolinians aren't like Eric Rudolph...believe it or not.
Catherine
All Texans aren't like the Bush family nor are they like Tom Delay. Sometimes it just seems that way. All Tennesseans aren't like Bill Frist, and all North Carolinians aren't like Eric Rudolph...believe it or not.
Catherine
It's not so much Texas is the scumbags that are in politics...
Doc
Doc
Southwest Texas is a Democratic stronghold... but it doesn't include Dallas, Austin, or Houston, so the votes don't show it. Plus if you look at the website to Crawford's local paper, it links to Truthout, 9/11 In Plane Site, and Bartcop. Quite ironic since that's "Bush's hometown."
I think Texas recorded over a million Dem votes this last election. The support's there, it's just getting it to bleed up into the rest of the state.
I think Texas recorded over a million Dem votes this last election. The support's there, it's just getting it to bleed up into the rest of the state.
Most Texans I know are good people, its the FAKE Texans that give them bad names.
There are alot of people in Austin that are awake to the events going on
There are alot of people in Austin that are awake to the events going on
| QUOTE (rexateyfor @ Wednesday, 27 April 2005, 2:16 pm) |
| Most Texans I know are good people, its the FAKE Texans that give them bad names. There are alot of people in Austin that are awake to the events going on |
Yup, Bush is a fake Texan...well Bush is a fake president too...
Doc
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.