Texas inmate wins reprieve from Supreme Court

By MICHAEL GRACZYK
Associated Press Writer

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A condemned killer whose attorneys questioned the lethal injection process that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review avoided execution in the nation’s busiest death chamber Thursday night when the high court gave him a reprieve.

Attorneys for Carlton Turner Jr., a suburban Dallas man condemned for killing his parents, had appealed to the high court, which earlier this week agreed to review lethal injection procedures in Kentucky.

In a brief, one paragraph order the court said it had granted his stay of execution. The order came more than four hours after he could have been executed and less than two hours before the death warrant would have expired at midnight CDT.

Gardner Selby, a political columnist for the Austin American-Statesman, wrote an article last week that contained new polling data on the views of Texas Democrats and independent voters on the death penalty. The August poll of 350 Democratic-leaning and 150 independent voters was taken by Wilson Research Strategies. The poll shows that the risk of executing innocent people is a major concern. 79 percent said they’re concerned about the possibility of innocent people being executed; 45 percent are very concerned. Forty-four percent of voters prefer life without parole as the punishment for people convicted of capital murder, with 30 percent sticking with the death penalty and 14 percent preferring life in prison with a chance of parole.

The polling data does not come as a surprise to any of us who have been working on the death penalty issue. We have known for a long time that we were making progress in educating the public on the problems in the Texas death penalty system. Our experience has shown us that support for a moratorium is overwhelming among grassroots Democrats in Texas. In 2004, a group of us convinced the Texas Democratic Party to support a moratorium on executions in the party platform.

TMN’s Scott Cobb was a member of the platform writing committee that year and wrote the section on capital punishment in the platform. Last summer, he and Hooman Hedayati met with the Democratic nominee for governor of Texas, Chris Bell, and convinced him to support a moratorium. Unfortunately, Bell never went public with his support for a moratorium. If he had, then he might have won more votes in the general election that year, which had four major candidates. Bell needed to identify himself strongly with the core values of the Democratic Party in order to bring out the base and win the election. By publicly endorsing a moratorium, as well as other issues that Democrats care about, such as universal health care, Bell might have had a chance to defeat Perry, given four major candidates. But Bell limited his public comments to support for an Innocence Commission. His comments on health care were also not strong enough to increase turnout for him in November. Had he come out strongly for both a moratorium and universal health coverage, then he might have made enough of an impression among Democratic voters that they would have turned out in large numbers for him. That could have made a difference in last year’s four candidate race, five counting the Libertarian candidate.

Candidates who articulate support for a moratorium are likely to find support from a large number of potential voters, at least from voters who identify themselves as Democratic or independent.

From the Statesman article:

The poll tested seven questions related to the death penalty in Texas, showing that Democrats and independents have misgivings about how Texas applies the punishment.

Less than half the polled voters favor abolishing the death penalty. But 79 percent said they’re concerned about the possibility of innocent people being executed; 45 percent are very concerned.

Granted, the poll didn’t include Republicans, effectively overlooking the party whose candidates have won every statewide office since 1998.

Is it still meaningful that four in five Democrats and independents have misgivings?

My sense: It’ll take Friedman stumping before anyone knows. It’s that hard in tough-on-crime Texas to envision another candidate questioning the death penalty, though Bell would support a moratorium while cases are reviewed.

The polled voters appear uncertain what to do about the death sentence, which has been carried out more than 400 times in Texas since 1982.

Very few of the voters rate abolishing the penalty as a vital issue. Forty-four percent of voters prefer life without parole as the punishment for people convicted of capital murder, with 30 percent sticking with the death penalty and 14 percent preferring life in prison with a chance of parole.

From the Houston Chronicle:

Carlton Turner’s lawyers went to his trial court judge Thursday with a request to withdraw the execution order. When that failed, they went to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which voted 5-4 to refuse to stop the punishment. The case then went to U.S. Supreme Court. The execution, scheduled for after 6 p.m. CDT, was delayed while justices considered the case.

…

Turner’s case was being watched as an indicator of whether executions in Texas, the nation’s busiest death penalty state, could be halted until the high court rules on the Kentucky case sometime next year.

Another execution is scheduled for next week, one of at least three more set for this year in Texas.

On Tuesday, when the justices announced they would consider the issue, another Texas inmate was executed hours later, but attorneys for Turner suggested the short time period didn’t allow them to prepare an adequate appeal for the convicted killer, Michael Richard. The justices, however, did consider the motion lawyer David Dow sent before turning it down, and Richard was executed after about a two-hour delay.

Dow, a University of Houston law professor, also was involved in the appeal to spare Turner, who would be the 27th Texas inmate executed this year.

Gov. Rick Perry could issue a one-time 30-day reprieve. He also has authority to commute death sentences to life on the recommendation of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. The board, however, earlier this week voted 7-0 to deny Turner’s commutation request.

Perry spokeswoman Krista Moody said Perry’s position on executions had not changed.

“The Supreme Court has not yet ruled or issued a decision on this Kentucky case that they’ve agreed to review,” she said. “The governor continues to follow Texas law, so nothing has changed.”

You can use the above link to send an email to both Governor Perry and the Board of Pardons and Paroles.

Chi’s court-appointed attorney, Wes Ball, says that Chi was not allowed to contact his country’s consulate as prescribed by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. That 1963 treaty was meant to allow foreigners who are arrested the right to speak with their consulates.

P.O. Box 12428

You can also write, fax or phone the:

Executive Clemency Section

Austin, Texas 78757