Rick Perry



3:31 PM Tue, Oct 20, 2009

Christy Hoppe/Reporter

After early voting on the state constitutional amendments, Gov. Rick
Perry told reporters that the Texas criminal justice system is
working just fine, thank you.

The state's punishment system has been in the spotlight following
questions raised about the science used to prove arson in the case of
Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 for setting a Corsicana
house fire that killed his three children.

Perry upended the investigation looking back at the forensics of the
Willingham case when he replaced four members on the Texas Forensic
Science Commission. Questions raised in that case and others prompted
former Gov. Mark White to say this weekend that he has rethought his
longtime support of the death penalty and now opposes it.

"I think our process works and I don't see anything out there that
would merit calling for a moratorium on the Texas death penalty,"
Perry said Tuesday. "I think it's fair and appropriate and we will
continue with it."

Perry wouldn't venture whether GOP rival Kay Bailey Hutchison should
hurry up and resign her U.S. Senate, although he did do a little
towel snap.

"That's her decision," Perry said of KBH's much discussed
resignation. "It just seems to me that it's one they're having an
awful hard time making."

He also said that her campaign's criticism of his support of the
Trans Texas Corridor is old news, especially since he's had to
abandon the much maligned giant swath of roadway.

"The Trans Texas Corridor is a dead issue and has been for some time.
If she wants to go back and talk about a 2006 campaign issue, that's
her choice," Perry said. "She'll have to decide if that's a winning
strategy or not. I'd suggest it's not."

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