EDITORIAL: Dallas Morning News Calls Death Penalty ​“The great­est moral chal­lenge fac­ing law­mak­ers today”

The Dallas Morning News called the death penalty “the greatest moral challenge facing lawmakers today.” In an editorial addressing concerns about Texas’ capital punishment system, the paper noted the “distinct and unacceptable possibility of deadly error,” and called on lawmakers to impose a moratorium on executions while the system is studied. The editorial made several suggestions as part of a “fresh look” at the death penalty, including the formation of an innocence commission, the elimination of death sentences for defendants who did not personally take a life, and the expansion of the governor’s authority in murder cases:

Texas’ relentless pace of state-sponsored killing is the greatest moral challenge facing lawmakers today.

It is past time for them to confront the growing list of concerns about the liberal use of the executioner’s chamber. Legislative leaders should start the process by ordering Senate and House committees to study capital justice in Texas and doubts about its fairness.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick will be issuing long lists of “interim studies” to prepare the Legislature for the 2009 session. It would be a disservice to the public to omit examination of the grim business of sending people to their deaths.

This newspaper recently called for an end to capital punishment because of the distinct and unacceptable possibility of deadly error. We know that leaders in Austin are not deaf and blind to evidence of miscarriage of justice. We call on them to act accordingly.

The areas of inquiry should include:

•Proposals to form a state innocence commission to study the causes of proven or suspected breakdowns in justice.

Wrongful convictions have been uncovered across the state through DNA tests and other advances in forensic science.

We feel a great sense of urgency from our vantage point of seeing a series of ghastly revelations in Dallas County. Thirteen men have been freed from prison because of local breakdowns of justice, including faulty police work and erroneous witness identification. Although these cases did not involve capital punishment, it is harder to conclude today that the possibility of fatal error is a remote one.

Consider the 1989 execution of Carlos De Luna of Corpus Christi in the bloody stabbing death of gas station clerk Wanda Lopez. Officials produced no physical evidence and no eyewitness to the killing, according to a Chicago Tribune series, and Mr. De Luna went to his death even though another potential suspect had been bragging about the killing.

A proposal for an innocence commission – along the lines of what has been suggested by Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson – cleared the Senate this year by a 20-10 vote, but it failed in the House. The idea needs a fuller airing than it got this year.

The plan was a sound one: Create a panel that includes members of the law-enforcement and legal communities and examine weaknesses in the justice system. Findings could be used to set new standards for law enforcement.

•The execution of defendants who were involved in crimes but who did not personally take a life.

The legal term for this is the “law of parties,” and it is used to ensure that all members of a conspiracy pay for a crime they jointly plan and carry out. Generally, we have no quarrel with the concept. As applied to capital punishment, we do.

Texas is the only state that executes people through the law of parties. That is morally objectionable because jurors can guess wrong on a defendant’s level of intent.

When Gov. Rick Perry commuted the sentence of death row inmate Kenneth Foster on Thursday, he expressed concern that Mr. Foster had been tried simultaneously with the gunman in that case. That, too, is worth legislative scrutiny, but the bigger issue cannot be ignored, not with more than 80 Texas inmates having been convicted of capital murder under the law of parties.

•The expansion of the governor’s authority in murder cases.

The office now has limited authority to offer executive clemency, such as wiping a conviction from the record through a pardon or lessening a sentence. The governor can only act upon a recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Paroles.

In death cases, the governor can call a one-time, 30-day reprieve. But the office lacks the power to call an emergency moratorium on executions. A bill to provide that authority passed a House committee this year but got nowhere after that.

The governor should have maximum flexibility to react if events warrant it.

•Calling a moratorium on executions.

This has been our call for some time. Considering the sobering questions that have been raised across the state, it is appropriate for lawmakers to give themselves time to take a fresh look at capital punishment.

We’re not naive about the Legislature’s willingness to take on the subject, since it would be politically costly to look “soft on crime.” We’re looking for political courage, though. We’re looking for leadership that’s unafraid to call for debate and thoughtful review on life-and-death issues.

•Texas has executed 402 people since capital punishment was reinstated nationally 21 years ago. That is four times the number of the second-most-active state, Virginia.

•Texas’ per capita execution rate is second only to Oklahoma’s.

•374 people are now waiting on death row in Texas, including 364 men in Livingston and 10 women in Gatesville.

•22 men have been executed this year; five more are scheduled to die in September.

(Dallas Morning News, September 2, 2007). See Editorials and Innocence.