Your Turn
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
JUSTICE IN TEXAS
Dear Editor:
While former President George W. Bush has been out making the rounds of the liberal media seeking to promote not only his image, but to rationalize his memoirs of his compassionate conservatism, the real story is in Texas.
Claude Jones, the last person executed under Governor Bush, died in the death chamber, still proclaiming he had been wrongly convicted. The single piece of forensic evidence was a strand of hair that he swore belonged to someone else. His request for DNA testing was denied by the courts and by Bush.
Now, over a decade later, it seems that DNA has proven Jones’s claim. The hair was not his. It matched the victim. Perhaps Jones was guilty, but he was convicted on false evidence and again, it’s possible that Texas and George Bush executed an innocent man. No amount of rationalized memoirs can wash this blood from George Bush’s hands. The trend to speed up executions in Texas continues with Rick Perry’s refusal to allow a probe into the Cameron Willingham execution in 2004. It appears that once again, an innocent man may have been executed for political gains. In October, Anthony Graves became the 12th prisoner to be exonerated from death row. Currently, Hank Skinner, is asking for DNA evidence that may prove him innocent if he does not get executed in the meantime.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to the death penalty. I’m opposed to injustice and trials where it doesn’t matter if you may be innocent. Remember, if innocent people are convicted and executed, it means the real murderers are still at-large. It’s time for Texas to choose justice over politics.
Josie Salmon Robinson
Kingwood
Your Turn – Wednesday, December 22, 2010 – Copyright 2007 Ourtribune.com