More Texas justice

The Texas death chamber was temporarily silenced again this week when a federal court issued a stay of execution for Jeff Wood, convicted of murder under the state’s infamous law of parties and sentenced to death for his part in the murder of Kriss Keeran, a convenience store clerk, during a botched robbery attempt. The robbery was planned by employees of the store, and only the shooter could have anticipated a killing. Like Kenneth Foster who last year was hours from execution for a killing he did not commit, Wood’s part in this crime consisted of waiting a vehicle, this time while the inside job went horribly wrong. Wood’s capital crime under the law of parties appears to be not anticipating that his friend would shoot the clerk.

Wood’s trip through the Texas justice system , spelled out in detail in his clemency petition, included a determination of incompetence by a jury after reviewing school records, a 22-day stay at a psychiatric hospital where he was “returned” to competency, even though mental health professionals there had reservations about his ability to communicate effectively with his lawyers, and finally, a determination of future dangerousness made by Dr. James Grigson, one of Texas’ favorite forensic experts, despite the fact that his predictions are anything but a sure thing. As noted in an article in that bastion of liberalism, the Washington Times:

Andrea Keilen, an attorney with the Texas Defenders Service, said she knew of dozens of former death row inmates whose sentences were reduced for various reasons and who have never been involved in any difficulties though Dr. Grigson testified they should be executed because they would likely commit murder again.

In 1988, a report compiled by an assistant district attorney in Dallas concluded that after the study of 11 specific death penalty verdicts — where the defendants’ terms had been reduced — not a single one had been other than a model prisoner.

Grigson’s most well-known error was his determination that Randall Dale Adams was an extreme danger to society. Mr. Adams, convicted of killing a police officer and sentenced to death on the strength of Dr. Grigson’s determination, was later exonerated, freed, and has not been re-arrested.

Despite all of the above, many still consider this type of treatment to be a fair trial, and comments on the AP story in the Austin American Statesman include such suggestions as lining up the criminals since injections are cheap. This may be the result of a succession of state officials who have insisted on the fairness of the Texas criminal justice system despite all evidence to the contrary. Perhaps the Texas legislature will correct a statute that allows retribution to extend way beyond an eye for an eye.

The immigrant scapegoat

The best way to deflect attention from the criminal activity of the current administration is to highlight/accentuate the supposed criminality of others. Hence the sharp increase in Justice Department prosecutions of undocumented immigrants. By parading large groups of scapegoated immigrants in front of an angry public, the Bush administration can continue its assault on the Constitution and our civil liberties while our focus is elsewhere.

Recent news articles have illustrated the criminalization of the undocumented as the federal government has ramped up its prosecution of those re-entering the United States after a deportation. A recent story in the Austin American Statesman tells of how the federal government is charging more and more immigrants who return to the United States after deportation with a felony punishable by several years of incarceration. The number of prosecutions in Austin increased from two to three at the beginning of the year to 25 in May.

In Iowa a mass raid of a meat processing plant netted more than 250 immigrants many of whom pled guilty to working without proper documentation and were sentenced to five months in prison followed by immediate deportation. It was either that or face felony charges which could net a two-year prison term. Even with that the sentencing judge acknowledged that those convicted were “hard-working people who have done what you did to help your families”.

Clearly Americans are angry about the influx of undocumented workers. We focus on the jobs they are taking away, the way they game the system, and totally ignore the underlying reason for the migration – the destructive economic results of IMF debt restructuring and dumping of our subsidized crops on Mexican and other markets. Petitions are going around (I received one the other day) claiming that “illegals” will soon be able to benefit from our Social Security system. The veracity of these petitions is discussed here and here.

While Americans are more than willing to sign these dubious petitions, we express less of a patriot’s zeal for demanding the repeal of the horrendous Military Commissions Act – the legislative affront to the rule of law with such ambiguous wording that it gives the president the power to designate anyone he so chooses as an enemy combatant, including American citizens. As spelled out in the Military Commissions Act section 950v.(b)(26):

“Any person subject to this chapter who, in breach of an allegiance or duty to the United States, knowingly and intentionally aids an enemy of the United States or one of its cobelligerents shall be guilty of the offense of wrongfully aiding the enemy and shall be suggest to whatever punishment the commission may direct.”

The persons “subject to this chapter” are alternately “alien unlawful enemy combatants” and “unlawful enemy combatants” but either way the president should not be afforded this type of power in a democratic republic founded on the rule of law.

It is no doubt much easier to lash out at the hated “criminal illegal” than to read the lengthy legislation that abandons habeas corpus and gives the president the power to lock people up for good. Apparently many of our representatives signed on to the bill without thoroughly reading its contents. But while we are railing against the current chosen scapegoat, the principles our country was founded on continue eroding under the current administration’s watchful eye.

Prison industrial complex follies

A couple of recent items in the mainstream and not-so-mainstream press illustrate that the prison industrial complex is thriving and in little danger of disappearing without a sustained public outcry against the for-profit management of the country’s prison system.

There are 1.5 million people incarcerated in the United States, and local police departments have ready allies in their poverty-stricken populations. As the New York Times has reported, people are so desperate for money that they are turning in their neighbors and even relatives – many wanted for nonviolent misdemeanor offenses – in order to get the money to pay the utility bill. Some tipsters have called the police so many times that their voices are easily recognizable. Also, they are quick to express frustration if the reward is not immediately available. This is a much better way to make ends meet than using the predatory payday loan establishments that are now proliferating like weeds as part of the urban landscape.

Since many of the people turned in by their friends, relatives and neighbors are likely to find themselves in a privately-run prison, what could be more appropriate than a company man on the federal bench. Enter Gus Puryear, the main attorney for the Corrections Corporation of America and Bush’s nominee to the US District Court in the Middle District of Tennessee. Mr. Puryear did well by the company’s shareholders, as the legal mind behind the $2 million settlement that derailed any civil or criminal action in the murder of an inmate at the hands of CCA prison guards. Whether this qualifies him for a lifetime appointment as a public servant will be up to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and some of the members of that committee are concerned enough to begin asking questions about the case.

Yet it is a stunning illustration of how far we have progressed down the road to a corporatist state that someone so intimately associated with private prison enterprise could be unashamedly selected for a federal judgeship.