Did Texas execute an innocent man?

Houston Chronicle ^ | Nov. 19, 2005 | LISE OLSEN

[Ninian Dryhope]

What a pile of crap. It is obvious even form this biased story that they executed the right man. This is just run to try to undercut the death penalty.

[goldstategop]

I've yet to see them produce evidence he was innocent. The absence of evidence is not proof the death penalty was unjustly sought against this murderer.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[denydenydeny]

Short answer: No.

[dagoofyfoot]

What a pile crap


Maybe next time the dumbass reporter will try to uncover these "facts" before they execute the perp.

I don't know...maybe the left always needs a victim.

[Michael Goldsberry]

... a Houston Chronicle investigation suggests...

Need anyone read further?

[goldstategop]

Uh huh. A murderer and the truth in the same sentence is an oxymoron. But you can't count on the liberal Houston Chronicle to acknowledge how absurd it is. Every murderer in history has claimed innocence. So what?

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[Anti-Bubba182]

Lise Olsen

"..Lise Olsen is being recognized for her series "Uncertain Justice," about the death penalty in Washington . She spent nearly a year tracking WSBA records, judges' reports on death-penalty cases, and interviewing serial killers for a review of two decades of capital punishment in Washington . Based largely on her findings, the Washington State Supreme Court revamped its rules for lawyers in death-penalty cases in June of this year. Starting next year, every death-penalty lawyer used in Washington cases must be certified as qualified by a Supreme Court subcommittee. Ms. Olsen's series earned awards from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Thurgood Marshall Award, sponsored by the Death Penalty Information Center.

Ms. Olsen often writes about civil rights and criminal justice. One of her previous stories about immigrants being held indefinitely led to a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court case, in which the Court called the practice unconstitutional. .."

[al_again]

Um... obvious????

Not only has the key eyewitness recanted, even the prosecutor thinks they got it wrong.

People need to realize that as long as there is capital punishment, there will be some innocent people put to death. To say otherwise is pure folly.

This case appears to be one of those cases. This is the main reason I am against capital punishment - you can't fix mistakes!

[gungafox]

>Did Texas execute an innocent man?

It'd be awfully amazing if the count was as low as one or two.

[thoughtomator]

I can tell from the amount of words before there was any description of the crime that this article is not written to illuminate the truth of the matter, but to demonize the death penalty.

[Charlespg]

this story needs a barf alert

[barker]

But, he sounds like such a fine upstanding sort, I'm sure they made a mistake. </sarcasm> One less to worry about.

[SouthTexas]

Nope.

[peyton randolph]

This is the main reason I am against capital punishment - you can't fix mistakes!

Sure you can fix mistakes. That's why I support retroactive abortions...emanating penumbras of the Constitution that enable us to abort Hitlery and other feminazis with rusty coathangers. /semi-sarc

[Robert A Cook PE]

If he were "innocent", who killed the first "innocent" victim and shot the second "innncent" victim?

The defense (the people attacking the death penalty) better provide 100% proof of who DID DO IT, before they can conclude Cantu DIDN'T do it.

[HIDEK6]

...before emptying at least nine more rounds into the only eyewitness — a man who barely survived to testify.

Nice shot!

[rwfromkansas]

People are also wrongly imprisoned, sometimes for 30-40 years before being freed. Sometimes they die in prison.

Let's just not have prisons at all since some innocents get convicted. /sarcasm

[isrul]

If Garza and Moreno lied, and this resulted in a death, couldn't they be charged with something a lot more serious than, say, perjury?

[warrior9504]

If you accept the premise that mistakes will be made in the current system, couldn't you favor a new higher standard for the application of the death penalty? There is nothing saying that it has to be all or nothing.
Just as you can argue that a mistake can be made in the application of the death penalty I can argue that life in prison does not mean life in prison (parole, or escape) and they kill again.

[RadioAstronomer]

The absence of evidence is not proof the death penalty was unjustly sought against this murderer.

It seems the people involved disagree with you.

BTW, innocent till proven guilty. If the story is accurate, I see no proof.