A man who died in prison
after serving 13 years
of a sentence for a rape
another man confessed to
was posthumously cleared
by DNA testing--and pardoned
by Governor Perry of Texas.
How very white of the guv'nor.

Totally agree.

thanks for reading, Cheryl. according to papers, pardoned man's family is delighted, tho. are they grateful for the crumb or am I missing something bigtime??

No.  In my sight, those 13 years can never be made up or apologized enough for.  Texas owes him and his family big-time.

there is no perfect justice system as it is run and operated by humans. however, i would take ours over any other any day of the week.

true, what you both say. but for the state to "pardon" someone it has so wronged, rather than begging a pardon for itself, seems beastly at the level of language and attitude. and the justice system for black Americans is not what they (or I) would choose any day of the week, at best second-best, quite a bit less just than that for white. tom

but again  that is just a process thing. he can't have a retrial since he is dead... a pardon is the next best option they have available.

really? why would you retry him?
if granting a pardon to someone for wrongs you have done to him is indeed the best thing to do, that doesn't make it any less outrageous. the "process" needs to be better than that.

thanks for your thoughts, Silent - as for yours Casey and Cheryl. it's good to keep looking at this from different angles. I think courts need to void convictions when prosecutors admit to exonerating evidence after the original trial, as they do when there is evidence of flawed trials, so no "pardon" is necessary. The state should also, IMO, have a legal declaration in which it asks pardon when the justice system misfires.
it is indeed lovely that we used to have the right (before Patriot Act etc.) to trial by jury rather than being sent away on the government's say-so, but the number of people wrongly convicted by juries is still vast, and I have seen firsthand why/how that happens on juries I have served on.

Texas is a different beast.  In Dallas alone, over 20 men have been exonerated.  There was a long serving DA with great pride in his conviction rate.  Unfortunately his office overlooked evidence, or fabricated evidence, or just ignored the facts of the case and the notion of guilt or innocence for the sake of a conviction and high conviction rate. 

Also, Gov. Perry last year disbanded the Tx. Forensic Science commission within the week it was to hear testimony that Tx. may have executed an innocent man.  The Gov. cancelled the meeting and replaced the chair of the commission within a week before this hearing was to take place.

In addition, justice has always been 'different' for blacks and the poor. 

Excellent write.

tiko

some good reading material about Perry and .....Bush


http://rawstory.com/2009/2009/10/governor-accused-innocent-execution/


http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann


Texas Carries Out 400th Execution - Bush Wants To End Appeals Process For Death Row Inmates

http://crooksandliars.com/2007/08/24/texas-carries-out-400th-execution-bush-wants-to-end-appeals-process-for-death-row-inmates#comment-104351

~~~~

Even though it wasn't relevant in this case apparently, I can only say that abolishing the death penalty was one of the most important measures enacted here in the UK. And we have no 3 strikes rule, either.

milner

Milner,

The fact that our politics are so tightly intertwined with crime and punishment makes it almost impossible for politicians to run on a platform of abolishing the death penalty or the 3 strikes law.  It's political suicide.

What's more amazing is the lot of proponents of the death penalty are overwhelmingly Christian. 

"What would Jesus do?"  If my memory is correct, he instructed us to put down the stones, lest we be without sin.

an interesting thought as well, given that prisons in the US have been privatized and that they make products/sale products with prison labor.  My father earnest feels and quips "felon is the slave".  And, on some levels, given the majority of inmates are minority or poor, it has some merit, though I can't marry myself to the idea completely.

tiko 

Look where it got 'im!