Arguments for and against capital punishment, emotional as they are, should be an honest discussion based on practical, moral and fiscal merits. It should be a discussion that is thoughtful and farsighted in the hands and eyes of elected officials.
Instead, the death penalty is a “hot button” or wedge issue in today’s political arena. It is trotted out along with gun rights, abortion and gay rights to inflame the differing sectors of the nation. The delicate balance of private tragedies and political pandering is embarrassingly askew. Both the victim’s right to justice and the rights of the accused are demeaned and converted to inflammatory sound bites and misinformation to win the vote.
On one hand, there will be politicians like the current Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, who refused to grant clemency to Cameron Willingham because of an upcoming election and he didn’t want to appear to be soft on crime. On the other hand, there is Farouk Shami who is running for Governor of Texas in 2010 on the Democratic ticket. He stated recently that there are “lots” of innocent people executed in Texas.
In the United States, capital punishment varies from state to state and is usually reserved for aggravated murder. Over 1100 people have been executed in the United States since the federal reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. Texas leads the country in number of executions performed. After reenactment, the first execution in Texas was in 1982. Since then, Texas has executed 449 people. Virginia runs a distant second with 105. Texas has executed over 40 percent of its death row inmates. A further breakdown of death row inmates show that 36 died before they could be executed and 222 were removed from death row. Of the 222 removals, 17 were exonerated by DNA which includes four who were acquitted, eight who had all charges dismissed, two were released and one had his sentence commuted to life in prison.
Out of the 449 executions performed, several cases have a heavy preponderance of innocence.
Carlos DeLuna was convicted in 1983 of the stabbing murder of a convenience store clerk. He was executed in 1989 even though another man, Carlos Hernandez, repeatedly confessed to the crime. All forensic evidence also pointed to Hernandez.
Ruben Cantu, was convicted in 1985 of a shooting death during an attempted robbery. He always proclaimed his innocence until he was executed in 1993. Now the state prosecutor, the jury foreperson, the state’s key eyewitness and Cantu’s co-defendant have come forward to say that Texas executed a innocent man. The key witness, wounded in the robbery, was pressured by the police to identify Cantu as the killer. He now states Cantu wasn’t even there.
David Spence was charged with murdering three teenagers in 1982 in a contract killing gone wrong. He was convicted in 1984 and executed in 1997. No physical evidence ever linked David Spence to the crime scene. Both the police lieutenant and the homicide detective assigned to the case have come forward to publicly state Spence’s innocence. The case was pushed through by an overzealous narcotics agent who was granting favors to inmates in return for falsified testimony.
Gary Graham was 17 when he was convicted of a robbery and shooting outside a supermarket. His conviction was based on one witness’s testimony. The woman testified that she had seen Gary Graham’s face for a few seconds through a car window from a distance of 30-40 feet. The grocery store employees, who got a good look at the assailant, stated that it was not Graham who committed the crime. These eyewitnesses were not interviewed by Graham’s attorney nor were they called to trial. Gary Graham was executed in 2000.
Cameron Willingham was convicted of murdering his three children is an arson-sparked house fire in 1991. He was convicted on investigators’ evidence of 20 indicators of an accelerant being used to set three separate fires in the home. Willingham refused to plead guilty to save himself and accept life in prison. He vehemently denied any guilt in the death of his children. Four of the country’s top arson experts repudiated the findings of the original investigators and the new evidence was delivered to the state’s highest court and the governor, Rick Perry. No clemency was granted and Texas executed Cameron Willingham in 2004. Later that same year, some of the same experts appeared in court and used the same information to exonerate and free Ernest Willis from death row.
The criminal justice system is vulnerable. It’s vulnerable to error because it consists of human endeavor. When the system includes the death penalty, people who are factually innocent are subject to execution. It is imperative that capital punishment be treated as the complex and highly charged issue that it is rather than a means to gain an upswing for a political victory.