A Texas cap­i­tal case that pre­cip­i­tat­ed a rare judi­cial review of the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the state’s death penal­ty recent­ly end­ed on July 6 with an unex­pect­ed plea deal. At the end of six weeks of jury selec­tion, the pros­e­cu­tion accept­ed defen­dant John Edward Green Jr.‘s agree­ment to plead guilty to a less­er mur­der charge in exchange for 40 years in prison. The case was delayed in com­ing to tri­al when Judge Kevin Fine (pic­tured) agreed to con­duct a hear­ing on whether Texas’s death penal­ty law posed too great a risk of exe­cut­ing the inno­cent. The hear­ing was begun in December 2010, although the pros­e­cu­tion refused to take an active part in the pro­ceed­ings. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halt­ed the hear­ing after 2 days of tes­ti­mo­ny, hold­ing that the con­sti­tu­tion­al issue was not ripe for con­sid­er­a­tion and that the tri­al court was not the prop­er forum for decid­ing that issue. The fam­i­ly of the two vic­tims who were robbed and shot (one of whom died) in 2008 sup­port­ed the plea agree­ment. A state­ment issued by Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos’s office cit­ed con­cern for the vic­tims and fam­i­lies when accept­ing the plea deal: ​“The vic­tim’s hus­band and sis­ter (who is also a vic­tim in this case) relat­ed that they want­ed final­i­ty and cer­tain­ty of sen­tence. They expressed grave con­cerns regard­ing the pre­tri­al pro­ceed­ings and pre­vi­ous rul­ings in this case.”

(C. George, ​“Murder tri­al unex­pect­ed­ly ends in deal,” and B. Rogers, ​“Victims’ fam­i­ly OK with Green plea deal,” Houston Chronicle, July 7, 2011). See Arbitrariness and Victims. See also Texas judge rules death penal­ty uncon­sti­tu­tion­al.

Citation Guide