June 11
TEXAS: 'Time doesn't heal the wounds' Another one-sided story on the Routier case ... Re: "Time doesn't heal the wounds - Rowlett: A decade later, officers reflect on Darlie Routier's fatal stabbing of her 2 young sons," June 4 Metro. I am disappointed, but not surprised, that The Dallas Morning News again printed a one-sided story on the Darlie Lynn Routier case that showed such blatant disregard for the facts. Your feeble excuse that Darlie did not respond to your interview request shows how out of touch you are with her case history. Had she responded, Judge Robert Francis would have sent her back to Gatesville to punish her and her family. What this case makes clear is the callous disregard the courts, police, prosecutors and media have for victims of violent crime. They are relevant only when they advocate the death of another human being, whether or not that person is guilty. Your advocacy of a moratorium on the death penalty in Texas rings hollow when The News is such an integral part of the problems plaguing the state's criminal justice system. David K. Kirkpatrick, Dallas ******** ... that disregards facts authorities can't answer Nowhere in Ian McCann's "unbiased" reporting did he mention some salient facts regarding the vaunted Rowlett Police Department and its investigation: 2 official investigators had to plead to the Fifth Amendment regarding their attempted entrapment of family members. Officers took "mental" notes and not written ones. Even the crack homicide investigator conveniently forgot to tape his interview with Ms. Routier. Evidence was stuffed into paper bags with no thought to possible transfers or contamination. A bloody sock, found 75 yards away, was almost overlooked and remains unexplained. A bloody fingerprint belongs to no one. There are significantly more questions than the police or prosecutors have answers for, but it appears their interest is not in seeing justice done, only in keeping score - and, for Mr. McCann, maintaining his "good ol' boy" status with the Rowlett police. Phil Klitgaard, Lewisville **************** If it's you, which 'expert' do you want on case? Rowlett police Lt. David Nabors dismisses findings regarding unidentified bloody fingerprints found in the Routier home because they were made by a forensic anthropologist, not a "crime-scene expert." Forensic anthropology requires a doctorate in physical/biological anthropology. Certification by the American Board of Forensic Anthropologists requires a Ph.D. and three years of professional internship. A "crime-scene expert" requires no such qualifications. If you or a family member were involved in a crime involving scientific evidence, who would you prefer to study and render judgment on it? David R. Moffatt, Eveleth, Minn. (source: Letters to the Editor, Dallas Morning News) ********************** Execution of Timothy Titsworth The murder committed by Timothy Titsworth was horrible, as are all murders. However, executions are unnecessary because we now have life without parole which is protective of society. The death penalty is immoral and an uncivilized act of societal revenge. The criminal justice system is imperfect and has sent innocent people to death row. I hope that, eventually, the citizens of Texas will realize that we can still have safety without killing other people. (source: Letter to the Editor, Amarillo Globe-News, David Atwood, Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty) ALABAMA: ABA calls for death penalty moratorium in Alabama The American Bar Association death penalty assessment team recommended a moratorium on the death penalty in Alabama in a report released Sunday that cited major flaws in the state's administration of capital punishment. The assessment team, composed of Alabama lawyers who are both prosecutors and defense attorneys, studied the state's death penalty system for approximately 20 months before releasing the report, which Alabama Attorney General Troy King accused of "liberal, activist" bias. The report, which only recommends a moratorium until due process standards can be fixed, identified several problems including inadequate and inconsistent court-appointed representation, limited access to DNA testing, and no implementation of the US Supreme Court ruling against executing the mentally retarded. The ABA hopes that the report will encourage the legislature to impose a moratorium until it can reform the capital punishment system when it convenes later this year. The Alabama assessment is one of several being conducted by the ABA and an assessment panel has also identified problems with Georgia's death penalty practices. In January, the Georgia assessment team also recommended a moratorium on capital punishment until flaws could be corrected, but Georgia officials suggested that the legislature had no plans to reform the state's system. (source: The Jurist) **** ALABAMA'S DEATH PENALTY SYSTEM IDENTIFICATION OF PROBLEMS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR REFORM Regardless of one's feelings about the morality of the death penalty, we all understand that, as a society, we must do all we can to ensure a fair and accurate system for every person who faces the death penalty. When a life is at stake, we cannot tolerate error or injustice. The Alabama Death Penalty Assessment Team found a number of problems in the state's death penalty system that undermines its fairness and accuracy. Highlighted below are proposed areas for reform that would help to improve the system. Until these reforms are implemented, a temporary moratorium on executions should be imposed. 1. ALABAMA SHOULD ENSURE THAT ALL POOR DEFENDANTS RECEIVE COMPETENT COUNSEL AT EVERY STAGE OF THE CAPITAL PROCESS. In the United States, poor criminal defendants are entitled to attorneys, and while the availability and quality of defense counsel is central to a fair and accurate death penalty system, capital defendants in Alabama too often do not receive the full benefit of this Constitutional guarantee. The State's failure to provide statewide oversight of its indigent defense system, combined with the minimal qualifications and non-existent training required of attorneys who represent capital defendants, leads to a system where serious fairness and accuracy breakdowns are virtually inevitable. Alabama should create a statewide indigent defense commission to help fix these problems. Compounding this problem, Alabama is 1 of only 2 states that does not even guarantee a lawyer in the state post-conviction portion of the death penalty process, even if the inmate might have new evidence of innocence. 2. ALABAMA SHOULD PROTECT INNOCENT DEATH ROW INMATES BY PROVIDING A CLEAR METHOD TO OBTAIN DNA TESTING. DNA has proven to be an enormously useful law enforcement tool for proving both guilt and innocence, but Alabama has failed to pass a law that ensures access to DNA testing for people convicted of capital crimes. Additionally, Alabama does not require that biological evidence be preserved throughout the capital inmate's incarceration, thereby enabling the potential destruction of evidence that could be used to prove innocence. 3. ALABAMA SHOULD ENSURE THAT MENTALLY RETARDED DEFENDANTS ARE PROTECTED FROM UNCONSTIUTIONAL EXECUTION. In accordance with United States Supreme Court case law banning the execution of offenders with mental retardation, 26 states have adopted statues prohibiting this practice. Alabama is not one of them. Consequently, and despite repeated pleas from judges in the state, courts have been forced to cobble together stopgap standards and procedures to comply with the United States Supreme Court decision. The Legislature's abdication of its responsibilities in this area has resulted in the legitimate risk that Alabama might continue to execute mentally retarded offenders. 4. ALABAMA SHOULD PROVIDE JURIES WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR SENTENCING DECISIONS. Alabama should strengthen the jury's role in capital sentencing by eliminating "judge override," the rule that allows judges to disregard juries' sentencing recommendations. Judge override diminishes jurors' sense of responsibility for the enormous life and death decision they must make, and results in jurors paying less attention to jury instructions and deliberating for less time. All of this can result in unfairness and inaccuracy. In addition to eliminating judge override, Alabama should require juries to be unanimous in recommending a death sentence. Bottom line: Alabama should respect the ability of juries to "get it right." 5. ALABAMA SHOULD RESERVE THE DEATH PENALTY FOR THE "WORST OF THE WORST." Meaningful proportionality review is the best method of protecting against unfairness in capital sentencing. This sort of review should compare the case under consideration to similar cases in which (1) death was imposed, (2) death was sought but not imposed, and (3) death could have been sought but was not. In conducting its proportionality review, however, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals limits itself to cases where the death penalty was imposed, thereby increasing the likelihood of unfair death sentences. 6. ALABAMA SHOULD COLLECT AND STUDY THE DATA NECESSARY TO FULLY UNDERSTAND HOW ITS SYSTEM IS FUNCTIONING. It is imperative to have thorough and accurate information when gauging the health of Alabama's capital system. Unfortunately, Alabama does not collect and/or make available the data that is necessary to understand whether the death penalty is being applied fairly and accurately. In fact, the ABA could not even answer whether Alabama met or failed to meet 14 of the 80 recommendations contained in the assessment report. (source: ABA Assessment)
