Posted on 05/22/2005 5:16:19 AM PDT by nuconvert
Texas May Add Life Without Parole Option
By JIM VERTUNO /Associated Press Writer
May 22, 2005
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- In Texas, the state that leads the nation in executions, lawmakers are considering an option already available in all but one other death penalty state: life without parole. Death penalty opponents think a sentence that would ensure murderers never get back on the streets would make a death sentence less appealing.
Currently, juries in Texas capital murder cases here have two choices - death or life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years.
A measure approving life without parole passed the Senate last month but has stalled in the House, with the session set to end May 30.
"It's frustrating to see something so important to the criminal justice system not move forward," said Sen. Eddie Lucio, who has sponsored a life-without-parole bill for the past four sessions.
But many lawmakers and prosecutors are skeptical of life without parole, saying it would decrease the number of death sentences and their ability to deter crime.
"If you take away the ultimate penalty, maybe it's not enough of an incentive to stay out of trouble," said Rep. Beverly Woolley, a Houston Republican.
The Legislature took a hard look at Texas criminal justice after former governor Gov. George W. Bush's presidential campaign, but a life-without-parole measure that passed the Senate in 2001 narrowly failed in the House.
Bill sponsors felt their case was bolstered by the Supreme Court ruling in March that banned the execution of murderers who kill when they are younger than 18. In 2002, the courts also struck down executions of mentally retarded inmates.
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., said juries who have the option of life without parole are less likely to choose the death penalty. Of the 38 states with the death penalty, only Texas and New Mexico don't have the life-without-parole option.
"Virtually every other jurisdiction in America has life without parole," said Steve Hall, a member of Stand Down Texas, which supports a moratorium on the death penalty.
Texas has put eight inmates to death so far this year for a total of 344 since the state resumed executions in 1982, the most of any state.
Lucio, a Democrat, said he plans to meet with House leaders in the next few days to try to push the bill along. He said there are enough votes to pass it and send it on to Republican Gov. Rick Perry for his consideration.
"I don't understand why at this time of the session, with the support this bill has, why it would be on hold," Lucio said.
Seventy-five percent of Texans support the death penalty, but 78 percent favor giving juries the life without parole option, according to a Scripps-Howard poll in October.
Tony Goolsby, a Republican sponsor of the House bill, said life in prison is a harsh enough penalty.
"If you want to punish a person who violated the law, you let them go to bed every night and wake up and see steel bars, a cold concrete floor and a stainless steel potty. That's their life until they die," Goolsby said.
Dianne Clements, a member of the Houston-based victims rights group Justice For All, said she trusts juries to choose the death penalty when appropriate, even if given the option of life without parole.
"I believe juries will still look at cases that deserve death and vote for death," she said.
Right...while we...the tax payers pay for endless legal appeals and other legal representation that can include, special diets, exercise, recreation, reading material, humiliation, lighting, etc.....
The final option serves the victim and the taxpayer.....
Sheesh, not this $h!t again. Why is it that every time adults try to start talking about something serious some kid gets a bee in his pantyhose.
That's a good example-- second only to just getting the lib idiots off the SCOTUS; but I thought we were talking about having state courts allow either the choice of the LWOP sentence or the choice of execution. The tile is "Texas May Add Life Without Parole Option"; not "Texas May Replace Execution Life with Without Parole".
The DNA thing bothers me. It works, but how about when someone plants evidence (dna) like for example, Criminal commits a crime, takes a object with DNA (cig butt, dirty shirt, soda can) that has someone else's DNA and plants it, knowing that whomever's DNA that's on it is gonna get caught, and not the real criminal. They can lift dna off just about anything these days. You know criminals have thought of this by now.
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