As Texas Governor Rick Perry shamelessly insists on plowing ahead with the October 27th execution of Reggie Blanton (for a good article on the Blanton case go HERE), former Texas Governor Mark White is urging for a review of the death penalty in Texas following the recent hullabaloo surrounding Perry’s actions relating to the 2004 execution of Todd Willingham. A Houston Chronicle article today quoted the former Governor as saying he believes the “system is so unreliable it creates an unnecessary possibility that an innocent person would be executed in Texas.” Well, kudos to Governor White, but he only got it partially correct. The system he refers to is so unreliable that it not only creates the possibility that an innocent person would be executed in Texas, it in fact permitted a person not wrongly “proven” guilty to be executed in Texas. His name was Todd Willingham. While Perry appallingly refuses to come to terms with (or even speak somewhat honestly about) Willingham’s execution, Governor White (who presided over the execution of twenty individuals during his time in office) has some more intelligent things to say, e.g.

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 determined that we as the state of Texas have executed someone who is in fact innocent

So even though Governor White avoided any actual criticism of Perry or his handling of the Willingham case, he is actually suggesting that Texas realistically consider replacing the death penalty with life without parole. I don’t know about you, but when a former governor of the state of Texas starts talking about death penalty abolition, you have to feel a little encouraged, especially when we’ve grown so accustomed to the stubborn “stay the course” mentality of Texas’ long line of of law-and-order-at-all-costs Governors.

Related posts:

1. Archibald Cox meet Governor Perry Lenore noted last week Texas Governor Rick Perry’s dismissal of Sam Bassett, former chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission...
2. Texas Executed an Innocent Man Some of the biggest innocence news was released by the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday: forensics have shown that Texas executed...
3. The numbers on New Mexico’s death penalty In the wake of Bill Richardson signing the bill to abolish New Mexico’s death penalty comes a study from attorney...
4. Texas Board Releases Info on Willingham Investigation The Texas State Forensic Science Commission panel looking into the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham released some of its...
5. The High Cost of the Death Penalty The New York Times published an interesting editorial yesterday on the financial costs of death row. There are many reasons...
6. A shift away from the death penalty? Time magazine has this post on the waning number of executions and death sentences in America. The number is down...