Texas Death Penalty Unconstitutional !

Texans have always loved their death penalty. While most states (and countries) are doing away with the death penalty, considering it to be a cruel and barbaric relic of the past, Texas continues to be a leader in executing prisoners (even some who are believed to be innocent by many people).

I think Texas humorist Ron White put it bluntly and succinctly when he said, "While most state are doing away with the death penalty, my state is putting in an express line." And that seemed to be true. Instead of considering abolishing the death penalty, Texas politicians were just looking for ways to carry out the death sentence more quickly.

But those days may soon be over. In Houston (Harris county -- the county that has sent more inmates to death row than any other), a U.S. District Judge has ruled the Texas death penalty to be unconstitutional. Judge Kevin Fine said the death penalty violates the due process clause because it allows for the execution of innocent people.

Of course, Texas politicians are hitting the roof. Governor Perry called the decision "a violation of public trust." State Attorney General Greg Abbott said the ruling was "unabashed judicial activism." He is promising to help the Harris county District Attorney appeal the ruling. That D.A. believes the judge is ignoring precedent.

Judge Fine disagrees. He said there was no precedents on the due process issue of innocents being executed, and said the only guidance is from the U.S. Supreme Court "that places a duty on trial courts to act as gatekeepers in interpreting the due process claim in light of evolving standards of fairness and ordered liberty."

The judge went on to say, "Are you willing to have your brother, your father, your mother be the sacrificial lamb, to be the innocent person executed so that we can execute those who are deserving of the death penalty? I don't think society's mindset is that way now. So I am charged with interpreting such evelving standards and I'm called upon to assess the current state of our society's standards of fairness and ordered liberty in light of what we as a society now know. And that is that we execute innocent people. This is supported by the exoneration of individuals off of America's death rows."

Judge Fine (pictured) has made a brave decision, and I don't doubt he will catch a lot of flack for it. Texas still has a ton of bloodthirsty people who will not like for the death penalty to go away. I would be very surprised if some of those didn't threaten the judge's life (and possibly even his family).

But this issue is far from over. There is no doubt that Texas' Republican leaders will appeal the decision -- all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary. And that conservative-leaning court could well re-instate the death penalty.

I hope not. I would be thrilled to see Texas join the rest of the civilized world (especially since it's not something I expected to see in my lifetime).