Re: 2012 Elections Part I: All Politics is Yokel
I suspect these vague references to Perry executing an "innocent" man (Willingham?) will grow louder and more hysterical as the process unfolds. True, there is some testimony the fire at Willingham's house was not arson (he was convicted for turning his three children into crispy critters), but to overlook the role played by prosecutors, judges, the jury, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the Board of Pardons and Paroles and place the "blame" solely on Perry strikes me as a bit or a reach. IIRC after the execution, some witnesses changed their stories and admitted Willingham had confessed to them that he had, in fact, started the fatal fire. But, in the minds of anti-death penalty types, the possibility that Willingham may have been wrongly executed becomes an undisputed fact.
Just for the record, while nobody wants to execute an innocent man, these anti-death penalty types don't want anybody executed, ever, for anything. So for them, the search for an "innocent" victim of capital punishment is their holy grail. As I've written before, you won't get to be governor of Texas if you don't sign those death warrants and you won't stay governor. Democrat or Republican, makes no difference.
I suspect this episode will become a theme for some people opposing Perry. He recently allowed the execution of a kidnapper, torturer, rapist murderer over the objections of Obama, the UN and Mexico. You want to put that one out there for the American people to judge?
The worst of this death penalty hypocricy came in June of 2000 when Texas was about to put down a vicious beast named Gary Graham. He had committed an eye popping series of crimes ( 3 attempted murders, 1 rape, 20 armed robberies, 1 kidnapping) during a short span, like a week or ten days. He was convicted of murdering a grocery store manager. His defense: "I wasn't there, I was with my girl friend." What's her name? "I don't know." Where does she live? "I don't know."
One of his victims was some poor dude whose car had broken down. Graham stopped, offered the guy a ride, and they took off. At some point, Graham fired a shotgun into the guy's thigh at point blank range. The guy lived, but lost his leg. Nice. Graham confessed to his guilt in all of the crimes, except for the capital murder, the one that would put him on the gurney.
On the day of the execution, Geraldo went live from Huntsville (this was on Fox news!) and devoted his entire program to this "miscarriage," citing such eminent authorities as Danny Glover, Bianca Jagger and "The Reverands." Bianca actually witnessed the punk's death, as did one or both of "The Reverands." It was nauseating in the extreme. As the moment of execution approached there was some sort of delay. Geraldo breathlessly speculated that perhaps sanity would prevail and Graham would avoid the needle. Nope. Minutes later Geraldo, nearly in tears, announced that the State of Texas had administered justice to Gary Graham.
My windy point? The anti-Bush crowd used the execution of this "innocent" man as a weapon against Bush. I'd imagine they're gearing up to do the same thing to Perry. Didn't work then, won't work now.
