Yeah, that eye-for-an-eye thing that the republicans and unfortunately a few lawn-order Dems are to fond of...the immutable punishment. Well, here's a case where it went wrong, all wrong.
Ruben Cantu, 18 years old, was convicted of capital murder in San Antonio in 1985 and executed in 1993. Many people - including Sam Millsap, Bexar Co. district attorney at the time of Cantu's conviction - now believe that Cantu was innocent. A 2005 article in the Houston Chronicle led the current DA, Susan Reed, to open an investigation. However, her tactics - including threatening to charge one of the recanting witnesses with "murder by perjury" - have led all the witnesses to hire attorneys and clam up. And it is now unclear whether any real investigation will take place.
"Murder by Perjury", and interesting charge. And one that it's now sadly, too late to do anything about. This was part of the Texecution Machine, and unfortunately was done on the watch of Ann Richards. I do hope she's sleeping well over this one...no free pass for you Ann. You were for the Death Penalty because it was politically convenient. How do you explain your crass politcal calculus to Ruben Cantu now? Oh, you can't.
posted by Jo Fish on 04.14.06 at 07:45 AM
Comments:
Great post jo. Death penalty is wrong. Everyone who has ever spent a day in court knows it too. It is all about politics, you are correct.
