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.

Justice, American style

A recent spate of news reports has clearly illustrated the state of justice in the United States. It is dismal.

An Illinois man was released from prison after serving twenty six years for a murder he did not commit. The actual killer had confided in his lawyers, but they could not say anything about this until their client’s recent death. At least in Illinois the former governor had some notion that justice was ailing, and he called a moratorium on executions because so many death row inmates were being cleared. This has occurred on more than one occasion in other states as well.

In Texas, home of the hyperactive death chamber, a man convicted of rape and murder in Dallas County was freed after twenty seven years in prison. The district attorney’s office, intent on a quick and easy conviction, ignored a solid alibi and eyewitness testimony which implicated others, and neglected to offer exculpatory evidence to the defense. The current Dallas County DA has decided to remedy any past injustices by re-checking all the DNA evidence. Out of 40 cases revisited so far seventeen inmates have been cleared. Despite this and other evidence to the contrary, the state of Texas continues to insist that those brought to trial receive a fair hearing. Hence Texas has wasted no time and scheduled three executions since the Supreme Court decided the Baze v. Rees lethal injection case.

The fact that these individuals served almost thirty years in prison is no coincidence. The “Reagan Revolution” ushered in a tough on crime attitude among local law enforcers which appears to have led to many miscarriages of justice.

Then there are the immigrants held in our country’s detention facilities who face neglectful and abusive treatment while awaiting disposition of their cases. Too many are dying as the authorities confiscate their medications are confiscated and all but ignore their health issues. Haitian American author Edwidge Danticat chronicles this in her book Brother I’m Dying, and in testimony at a House hearing on immigration. She described the treatment her uncle faced at the Krome Detention Center in Miami while awaiting asylum hearings, abuse which led to his death. Now a front page story in the New York Times tells of another abused immigrant who died under very similar circumstances, accused of faking an illness, thrown into solitary confinement and left to die. There was a time when American teenagers were warned not to engage in certain drug-related activities overseas, or they would be thrown into some rat-hole prison and left to rot. But as these news accounts indicate, we have become practitioners of what we abhor in others.

Early voting in Austin, TX

Some notes from the Texas primaries:

In Texas early voting has been going on for more than a week, and early voting stations have opened, campaign signs have proliferated, telephones have been ringing all over the state leaving automated messages and mailboxes are stuffed with campaign ads. In addition to the regular early voting locations on some university campuses, government buildings and shopping centers, there are also early mobile voting stations, they set up for one day in varied locations around Austin and today one of them was at the psychiatric hospital where I work. While mobile voting provided a convenient place for us to vote, the main impetus for making the Austin State Hospital a mobile voting location was to give the patients we serve that very same opportunity. So my colleagues and I were glad to vote there today and hopefully we will continue to host these polling stations in future elections as well.

From my own nonscientific observations, of the eight or so individuals voting at the same time that I was, none of them requested a Republican ballot. Of course, it is Austin. But I have heard that Democratic turnout has been huge all over the state. So much so that the local news station had to interrupt its nightly litany of children harmed by accidents or abuse, murders and fires to wonder whether the huge Democratic turnout could actually bode well for Democrats in state races as well – or as the news station put it, “could Texas go blue?” The next phase is on Tuesday (the official primary day), when precinct caucuses take place and more delegates are apportioned based on results of those caucuses.

About the Cleveland debate: Tim Russert is certainly dogged in his interrogation of the candidates. He is tenaciously grilling Barack Obama about Louis Farrakhan’s endorsement. Obama has repudiated, rejected and complpetely denounced Farrakhan. If only Russert had used some of that tenaciousness instead of his lackluster interrogation of Cheney and other administration officials in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Of course, he is not the only media personality who dropped the ball in 2003. I suppose he is now making up for lost time.