NEW VOICES: Former Texas Governor Now Expresses Doubts About Death Penalty

Mark White, a for­mer gov­er­nor of Texas and strong sup­port­er of the death penal­ty, recent­ly expressed seri­ous reser­va­tions about the prac­tice in Texas. ​“There is a very strong case to be made for a review of our death penal­ty statutes and even look at the pos­si­bil­i­ty of hav­ing life with­out parole so we don’t look up one day and deter­mine that we as the State of Texas have exe­cut­ed some­one who is in fact inno­cent,” he said. White was respond­ing to con­cerns about the case of Cameron Willingham who was exe­cut­ed in Texas in 2004 despite new evi­dence indi­cat­ing that the arson inves­ti­ga­tion that led to his con­vic­tion was flawed. Texas’ present gov­er­nor, Rick Perry, recent­ly dis­missed the chair and two mem­bers of a State Forensic Science Commission that was sched­uled to hear evi­dence regard­ing the case. Former gov­er­nor White said the case is one exam­ple ​“of why I think the sys­tem is so unreliable.”

(J. McKinley, ​“Controversy Builds in Texas After an Execution,” New York Times, October 19, 2009). See more infor­ma­tion about Cameron Willingham on DPIC’s Executed but Possibly Innocent page. See also Innocence and New Voices.