May 31
TEXAS:
Session ends without guidance on death penalty application
At nearly every turn, legislators chose to block or water down efforts to
address the U.S. Supreme Court's concerns about how Texas applies the
death penalty.
Most significant, Texas will still lack a law that reflects the 2002 court
decision banning execution of the mentally retarded. Senators could not
reach a compromise this year on bills that proposed different ways to
define mental retardation and when juries should consider the issue.
In a state that leads the nation in executions, that could create problems
for courts, which lack specific instructions for dealing with defendants
who may be retarded. Such issues can lead to endless, costly appeals.
"When the Supreme Court decides something, the Legislature cannot say,
'Oh, well, the Supreme Court has decided this,'" said David Dow of the
Texas Innocence Network at the University of Houston Law Center, who
advocates changes to the death-penalty system. "The Legislature has to
change the law based on what the Supreme Court has said."
Lawmakers also did not take significant steps to investigate problems that
led to the conviction of innocent people.
Although several innocent people walked off death row or out of Texas
prisons last year, Sen. Rodney Ellis could not win support for creating an
innocence commission that would study the system's failings.
"The real problem is there is not an organized constituency for criminal
justice reforms," said Mr. Ellis, D-Houston. "That is not a vote-getter."
Some Republicans said that such actions weren't urgent because problems
with the death penalty are exaggerated by its opponents.
"Many of the supposed reforms for the death penalty in Texas are really
subterfuge for attempts to eliminate it," said Rep. Terry Keel, an Austin
Republican who is the House's most influential voice on criminal justice.
Others, including Mr. Ellis, believe change could still be on the way.
They point to a new Criminal Justice Advisory Council created by the
governor to advise state leaders on how to improve the system.
Thomas P. Sullivan, a former U.S. attorney who co-chaired the Illinois
Commission on the Death Penalty, said the council should take up the
"great inadequacy of the funding of defense services in Texas." The
Illinois commission, created when that state's governor placed a
moratorium on executions, studied how so many innocent people there had
been sentenced to death.
Texas has not adopted American Bar Association recommendations that urge
funding for statewide public defender offices. The ABA says such offices
overcome regional disparities in funding and provide quality legal
representation throughout the state.
"Until adequate funds are made available to defend criminal cases, funding
at the same level as the prosecution, there is going to be a serious risk
of injustice and incarceration of people who are not guilty," said Mr.
Sullivan, who has worked with Mr. Ellis and others in Texas.
The state provided for about $12 million in 2004 for indigent defense.
Counties provided about $140 million.
The Legislature did approve about $200,000 each for four innocence clinics
at Texas law schools. The clinics, which subsist on private donations and
foundation grants, investigate cases of prisoners who have persuasive
claims of innocence.
On Sunday, the House short-circuited an attempt to channel additional
money to poor defendants. Lawmakers did not vote on a bill that would have
raised the pay of the state judiciary, which contained an amendment to put
$13 million toward indigent defense.
The House's inaction was payback for the Senate killing a bill, authored
by Mr. Keel, that would have changed qualifications for defense attorneys
appointed to capital murder cases.
Mr. Keel and Mr. Ellis disagree about the impact of the bill. Mr. Ellis
said it would have lowered standards by eliminating a requirement that
appointed defense lawyers have experience in "a significant number of
felony cases." Mr. Keel stressed that it would prohibit attorneys who had
been found to be ineffective from serving capital-murder defendants.
Republicans and Democrats also disagree about the impact of a bill they
both like - one that creates a sentence of life without parole. It was
approved and will be sent to Gov. Rick Perry. Existing law allows
prisoners under a life sentence to petition for parole after 40 years in
prison.
The push for a life-without-parole sentence gained new momentum when, in
March, the U.S. Supreme Court banned the execution of those who commit
murder when they are younger than 18.
Democrats such as Sen. Juan Hinojosa of McAllen said the change would lead
to fewer death sentences. Mr. Keel, a former prosecutor, disputes that,
noting that state law still compels jurors to choose death for a killing
they deem deliberate and if a suspect presents a "continuing danger to
society." If nothing in the defendant's background mitigates against the
use of the death sentence, jurors must choose death.
That sentencing scheme is a sore point among critics, who say it doesn't
allow jurors to apply much discretion.
"Juries [here] are in the position of feeling that death is the only
option they are allowed by law," said Andrea Keilen of Texas Defender
Service, which represents death row defendants on appeal.
Eric Freedman, a law professor at Hofstra University, said Texas' death
statute is so rigid that critics could argue it borders on a mandatory
death sentence. That battle looms on the legal horizon, he said, for
courts and future legislatures.
"We are still fighting the underlying constitutionality of the Texas death
penalty," he said.
SOME CHANGES
The Legislature passed several bills that tweak the state's death penalty
and provide more resources to courts, though defense attorneys say their
efforts are still underfunded. Among the changes:
< Defendants found guilty of killing a judge could receive the death
penalty.
Courts could maintain supervision of defendants found not guilty by reason
of insanity, even after they are released to outpatient treatment.
Juries could sentence capital murder defendants to a sentence of life in
prison without parole.
A new agency, the Texas Forensic Science Commission, would investigate
claims of wrongdoing or incompetence at crime labs whose analyses and
testimony are critical to prosecutions.
More money could be provided for innocence clinics at law schools, which
look into credible claims of wrongful convictions. The University of
Houston's Innocence Network has secured the release of innocent people
from prison.
More money could be spent on defense resources for the poor as part of a
bill that raises jury pay to $40 a day.
(source: Dallas Morning News)
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Crime lab watchdog bill sent to Perry----Measure would create an agency
that oversees forensic divisions
A bill establishing a state commission with the power to investigate
suspected problems in crime laboratories across Texas now goes to Gov.
Rick Perry for his approval.
The legislation creating the Texas Forensic Science Commission was passed
by both the House and Senate late Sunday night. Sponsored by Sen. John
Whitmire, D-Houston, the idea for the crime lab watchdog agency stems from
the exposure of problems in the forensic division of several law
enforcement agencies in the state.
Topping that list was the Houston Police Department crime lab, which shut
down its DNA division in November 2002 after an outside audit revealed
widespread problems that may have compromised evidence analysis.
2 1/2 years later, the lab remains shuttered. Problems were also
discovered in other divisions of the lab. Questions also have been raised
about the quality of work of labs operated by the Texas Department of
Public Safety. Overall, in the past 2 years, at least 4 men have been
released from Texas prisons after it was discovered that faulty forensic
work led to their convictions.
"Through our hearings with the Houston crime lab, I felt like we needed a
commission that was an arm's length from police agencies for investigative
purposes," said Whitmire, the chairman of the Senate's criminal justice
committee.
"You've just got to have accuracy and credibility when you're talking
about evidence as it relates to the criminal justice process."
The final version of the bill represents a compromise between the senator
and several House members who favored giving the forensic lab oversight
authority to the DPS.
Instead, the DPS will continue to oversee the accreditation of Texas crime
labs - a role given to the agency during the last legislative session.
In an effort to win Perry's support for the legislation, 4 members of the
nine-member commission would be appointed by the governor, who would also
select the chairman. 3 would be appointed by the lieutenant governor, and
2 by the attorney general.
On Monday, a spokesman for the governor said that Perry "will consider the
bill when it reaches his desk. We've made no decisions yet."
However, the passage of the legislation drew praise from New York attorney
Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, which has represented
two of the men recently released from Texas prisons after the discovery of
flawed forensic evidence.
"The state's history of crime lab problems has delayed justice, distracted
police and prosecutors, victimized the innocent, and allowed the guilty to
remain free," said Scheck in a written statement.
"This legislation will improve not only the quality of the Texas criminal
justice system, but perhaps as importantly, Texans' faith in that system."
Scheck also pointed out that creation of the panel will ensure that Texas
qualifies for millions of dollars in federal forensic science improvement
grants.
Additionally, Scheck said former Texas prison inmate Brandon Moon is
attempting to meet with Perry to explain the importance of the forensic
commission. Moon was exonerated in December after spending 17 years in
prison on a rape conviction based on faulty crime lab analysis by the DPS.
(source: Houston Chronicle)
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Brownsville lawyer fights to retry Mexican citizen on death
row----International court ruling could provide basis for new trial
Convicted killer Roberto Moreno Ramos has been compared to monsters like
Jeffrey Dahmer and Freddie Kruger for his crimes.
But unlike the notorious killers, the Aguascalientes, Mexico, native is
sitting in a Huntsville prison, sent there to die for the 1992 murder of
his wife and 2 children.
Their bodies were found buried under the bathroom of the couples Progreso
home.
Moreno, 51, was sentenced to death by Texas lethal injection in 1993. 12
years later, hes found hope for a reprieve in a 2004 international court
ruling that says the United States violated the 1963 Vienna Convention to
Consular Relations when it failed to notify the Mexican national of his
right to consular access upon his arrest.
Moreno is one of 51 Mexican citizens sentenced to be executed in this
country that could be spared by this ruling and a memorandum issued by the
president in February that states that the United States should apply the
international court ruling.
Brownsville lawyer Larry Warner represents Moreno and is using the ruling
to make his case for a new trial.
Court records show that in 1992 Moreno said he found his second wife and
children dead when he arrived home in early February 1992. He said he
buried them so his oldest son wouldnt discover them.
The state argued that Moreno killed his family to marry another woman and
suggested that he was suspected of killing his 1st wife.
Attorneys David K. Sergi of San Marcos and Walter Prentice of Austin are
also representing him in his appeal.
"We shouldnt forget the victims," Warner said.
"But when the crime is horrible, that is when the law really matters
because that is when people want to forget the law and lynch somebody and
it could be your kid tomorrow.
"Who would want to live in a place without law?"
Morenos attorneys have approached the 93rd state District Court in Hidalgo
County asking for a new trial.
"No one pays any attention to death row inmates," Warner complained. "But
Mexico has done pretty well with its Mexican citizens on death row.
"They (Mexican officials) send money to our client and make sure that no
one is mistreating him."
President Bushs memo noted that the United States will abide by the
international courts ruling and directed state courts to do the same.
Following the Bush memo, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to interrupt its
review of the case of confessed rapist and murderer Jose Ernesto Medellin
of Houston. The court decided on May 23 to allow the state courts to
review the Mexican nationals request for relief.
"The custom is to give the states the opportunity to solve a problem
before the federal court is called," Warner said.
Medellin, 30, confessed to participating in the gang rape and murder of
14-year-old Jennifer Ertman and 16-year-old Elizabeth Pea in Houston in
1993, according to court records.
The case is now before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
"In this case, if the Court of Criminal Appeals gives Medellin relief, it
shouldnt be too complicated for us to get relief," Warner said.
Court records show that as of February 2005, 119 citizens from 31 nations
were on state death rows.
(source: Brownsville Herald)
