Texas Justice System Flawed, Paper Says

Dozens of people have been executed in Texas during the tenure of Gov. George W. Bush after flawed trials, the Chicago Tribune said today.

The newspaper said it had studied all 131 executions carried out during the Bush administration and found that in many, “justice has been shaped by witnesses, experts and lawyers of questionable merit.”

The newspaper’s investigation, based on trial transcripts, legal briefs and other records, comes six months after Illinois Gov. George Ryan halted executions in his state due to fears of miscarriages of justice. Illinois has executed 12 death row inmates since 1976 and exonerated 13 others.

“The problems plaguing Illinois are equally pronounced in Texas, and . . . additional flaws undermine the state’s administration of society’s ultimate punishment,” the newspaper said.

“Under Gov. George W. Bush, Texas has executed dozens of death row inmates whose cases were compromised by unreliable evidence, disbarred or suspended defense attorneys, meager defense efforts during sentencing and dubious psychiatric testimony,” the Tribune said.

The report said defense attorneys in 40 of the capital cases presented no evidence or only one witness during the sentencing phase.

Twenty-three cases involved jailhouse informants, who are described in the report as being among the least credible type of witness.

Bush, the presumptive Republican candidate for the U.S. presidency, has expressed confidence in Texas’ capital punishment system. Texas has executed a total of 218 inmates since 1976--nearly three times as many as Virginia, the state with the second-busiest execution chamber. Seven Texas death row inmates have been exonerated.

Bush’s criminal justice policy director, Johnny Sutton, told the Tribune, “We have a system in place that is very careful and that gives years and years of super due process to make sure that no innocent defendants are executed and that the defendant received a fair trial.

“We think we have a good criminal justice system in Texas. It’s not perfect, but it’s one of the best around.”

Last week, Bush granted a 30-day reprieve to a condemned prisoner, Ricky McGinn, to allow for new DNA tests. It was the first reprieve he had granted.

The Tribune report said that in 43 of the 131 capital cases, defendants were represented by attorneys who were sanctioned for misconduct, either before or after the trial.

The newspaper described the case of David Wayne Stoker, who was put to death in June 1997 for the 1986 fatal shooting of a convenience store clerk north of Lubbock, Texas.

Stoker was represented by two court-appointed attorneys, one of whom was later convicted of forging a judge’s signature on a court order and falsifying a government document. The other had only been practicing law for 11 months at the time of Stoker’s trial.

Stoker was implicated in the crime by Carey Todd, who was facing drug charges in a nearby county at the time. The Tribune said court records show those charges were dropped the day he testified against Stoker. Stoker’s appellate attorneys allege Todd’s drug charges were dropped in exchange for his testimony.

Todd also received a $1,000 crime-stoppers reward, the newspaper said.

In a separate report, the New York Times today said some Texas lawyers had raised questions about the competence of one of their number, Ronald Mock, who has represented 12 people who have been sentenced to death.

The newspaper quoted Mock as saying he believed he had had more clients sentenced to death than any other lawyer in the country.