In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent rever­sal of Delma Banks’ death sen­tence in Texas because of pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct, the Dallas Morning News has called for a halt to exe­cu­tions while state offi­cials review seri­ous prob­lems in the system: 

It’s hard to imag­ine a clear­er mes­sage. The U.S. Supreme Court’s deci­sion lift­ing Texas inmate Delma Banks’ death sen­tence paints as bright a line as jurists paint. The gov­er­nor, Texas leg­is­la­tors and law enforce­ment offi­cials should absorb the rul­ing and change the state’s ways.

The court’s deci­sion Tuesday said Texas pros­e­cu­tors con­cealed infor­ma­tion that could have helped Mr. Banks, who has been on death row for 23 years after being con­vict­ed of killing a 16-year-old. Informants got paid, tes­ti­mo­ny was coerced, and pros­e­cu­tors cut deals. That kind of mis­con­duct is bad. It’s par­tic­u­lar­ly bad when it almost leads to a man’s execution. 

The fact that pub­lic ser­vants played fast and loose with the law should out­rage the most ardent death-penal­ty advo­cates. It’s note­wor­thy that for­mer FBI Director William Sessions of San Antonio spoke out fer­vent­ly against the shod­dy way the state han­dled the case. So did a sol­id sev­en-mem­ber major­i­ty on the Supreme Court, which sent the case back to the lower courts. 

Texas, of course, has had oth­er Supreme Court rep­ri­mands about the way it admin­is­ters the death penal­ty. The best answer is to sus­pend all of the state’s exe­cu­tions until offi­cials review all cas­es for var­i­ous pro­ce­dur­al errors. To cite one more exam­ple, Harris County got hit last year with a wave of crim­i­nal cas­es that called police lab work into question. 

The state also needs to come up with a way to keep men­tal­ly retard­ed offend­ers from death row. The Supreme Court said no more of this hor­ri­ble prac­tice but left it to the states to screen the cas­es. So far, Texas has­n’t fig­ured out how. 

Texas also has to open its clemen­cy process. The Board of Pardons and Paroles large­ly con­ducts its meet­ings about grant­i­ng clemen­cy to inmates away from the pub­lic light. That approach — we know best, you don’t — has got­ten the state into trou­ble with its death penalty. 

Plenty of trou­ble. The state needs to rethink its exe­cu­tions. A pause could help do that. Texas does­n’t need any more Delma Banks-like embarrassments.

(Dallas Morning News, February 27, 2004) (empha­sis added). See Supreme Court. See Editorials.
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