DP for the worst of the worst criminal ......a true lie

The Dallas Morning News on accomplice punishment:


Conventional wisdom suggests that the death penalty is reserved for the
worst of the worst criminals those who commit the most heinous murders.

But in Texas, we sometimes execute accomplices, people who never pulled
the trigger and who might have been only peripherally involved in a crime.
The law of parties permits the court to hold someone criminally
responsible for the acts of another.

Incredibly, an accomplice can be put to death for the triggerman's crime.
That accomplice might not even get his own trial, as Texas allows joint
trials in capital cases.

But proposed legislation would change that.

Several lawmakers are pushing for needed reforms that would guarantee a
defendant's right to his own trial in a death penalty case. Other bills
would rule out sentencing an accomplice to death using the law of parties.

This common-sense legislation, which got a hearing Thursday in a House
subcommittee, would ensure that defendants in capital cases have their own
day in court and are not punished for another's actions. Even death
penalty proponents should welcome these safeguards.

Gov. Rick Perry, who has shown little hesitancy about the death penalty,
expressed concerns about simultaneous trials in 2007 when he blocked
Kenneth Foster's execution and reduced his sentence to life in prison. The
governor urged the Legislature to look at the issue.

Foster, who drove the getaway car during a robbery spree that turned
deadly, faced a legal double whammy. He was tried with the shooter and was
sentenced to die under the law of parties. Even though Foster was sitting
yards away in his grandfather's rental car when his partner in crime fired
the gun, the jury determined that Foster intended to kill or "should have
anticipated" a murder.

Adopting this legislation would send the message that Texas no longer
plans to impose the ultimate punishment for crimes that someone else
committed. These bills, as well as one filed by Rep. Harold Dutton, would
take aim at let's-make-a-deal gamesmanship that pits defendants in capital
cases against one another.

Dutton's HB 298 would exclude testimony from accomplices and informants
who have cut a deal for a reduced sentence. While this common practice
certainly makes a prosecutor's job easier, relying on testimony from a
witness determined to spare himself is a dangerous proposition in
life-and-death decisions. The legislation also would require that
statements from prison snitches be corroborated by a recording.

Prosecutors and police no doubt will argue that these witnesses are an
important part of building a case. But unimpeachable evidence should be
required to take someone's life.

Texas lawmakers have shown little inclination to make sweeping changes to
the state's approach to capital punishment. But these bills would build
needed protections into the justice system that may prevent Texas from
making an irreversible mistake.

(source: Dallas Morning News, Mar. 20)

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