Travis County Commssioners Court
April 29, 2003
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Item 5
5. Approve resolution supporting a moratorium on executions in Texas. It reads: wrases Texas leads the nation in executions with more than 300 since 1982 when executions were resumed, whereas the execution of an innocent person by the state of Texas would be a grave injustice and would undermine public confidence in our criminal justice system; whereas seven innocent men have been completely exonerated and released from Texas death row and 107 people have been exonerated and released from death rows in the united states since the death penalty was reinstated in the 1970's. Whereas growing doubts concerning the competence and credibility of crime labs in houston and fort worth raise serious questions about the performance of crime labs in other Texas jurisdictions, including death penalty cases, whereas an innocent person could be sentenced to death and that sentence carried out to misco
duct or errors by a prosecutor, defense lawyer, investigator, lab technician, eyewitness or others associated with the case; whereas there is public concern in Travis County that racial or economic factors influence the decisions to seek or impossess the death penalty -- impose the death penalty in Texas. Whereas death sentences are given almost exclusively to the poor, whereas there is evidence of racial bias in the application of death penalty in Texas, whereas more than 65% of people on death row in Texas are people of color; whereas nationally over 08% of -- 80% of completed capital cases involve white victims, even though only 50% of murder victims are white; whereas 10 major newspapers in Texas, including the "dallas morning news" and Austin american-statesman have called for a moratorium on executions in Texas; whereas Texas currently does not give jirs the option of -- juries the option of sentencing a definite to life without parole as an alternative to the death penalty, whereas there is a lack of meaningful reporter to ensure uniform application of the death penalty from county to county throughout the state, whereas January 31 -- on January 31, 2000, governor george ryan of illinois, a supporter of capital punishment, placed a moratorium on executions in his state and on may 9th, 2002, governor paris inably maryland, also a supporter of death penalty ordered a moratorium on all executions in his state until a study is completed into whether minority felons are unjustly singled out for the death penalty. Whereas over 80 city councils in other local jurisdictions around the country have already passed moratorium resolutions, including atlanta, baltimore, philadelphia, pittsburgh, oakland, detroit, cincinnati, new york city, buffalo, tucson, chapel hill, charlotte, fayetteville, winston salem, greensboro and durham, north carolina, lexington and charlottesville ... In 2001 2001 approved constitutional amendments that would allow the voters to enact a moratorium on executions while a special capital punishment commission studied the administration of the death penalty in Texas, now therefore be it resolved that the Travis County Commissioners court urges the Texas legislature to enact a moratorium on executions while non-partisan commission studied the administration of capital punishment and submits recommendations to the legislature to correct any injustices found in the administration of the dch and particularly to make recommendations to eliminate the risk that innocent persons and persons with mental retardation or mental illness not be executed, to stop executions of juvenile offenders and to ensure that the death penalty cases are administered fairly regardless of race, income, citizenship and geography and I move approval.
>> second.
>> second.
>> good morning.
>> if you would give us your full name, we would be happy to get your comments.
>> thank you, judge. My name is ryan greg. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today, Commissioners. I知 a senior partner with the law firm of fulbright and jaworski. I知 here individually, to tell you a story in support of the action the of the county today that we hope for. I had the opportunity to represent an inmate on death row under a federal appointment in habeas corpus proceeding. If you don't know that happens after all of the state process has happened, after all of the direct appeals and state habeas corpus appeals have taken place. My client was tried to capital murder while chained to a table in the courtroom. That's a fact that I think might influence a jury who has to determine whether or not that person poses a threat of future dangerousness. Might influence their verdict. Unfortunately, because of the way the case was handled in the state courts, that point was not raised and could not be raised when we got into the federal courts and took that case before the federal judge. I知 a supporter of the death penalty, but I support the death penalty if it's properly applied. I think it needs to be properly applied for citizens to respect it. To eliminate many of the objections to it. And so I believe a moratorium is necessary to examine the process by which we administer the death penalty, especially the quality of the representation afforded those who are charged with capital crimes at all levels through the state system. I think a perspective is necessary to consider this kind of action that affects the state law. It's real easy to support the death penalty for somebody who is -- who has committed some heinous crime, for example against a child. That's pretty easy. But come at it from this standpoint. What if your son or your daughter were charged with a capital offense? How would you like the system to operate in that situation? I think we want it to be as near as perfect as possible. The experience that I had tells me that it is not that way now. That has caused a lack of respect for some of the death penalty sentences in the eyes of the public. So I ask that you support this resolution today. To ask for a moratorium to study the system. Thank you for this opportunity.
>> thank you for your comments.
>> let me, I forgot to interject. I passed out a resolution of the american bar association to share with you. Again, I知 not here on behalf of the aba, but I thought that you should know that the aba has gone on record in support of the moratorium.
>> thank you.
>> good morning, my name is andrea kyland an toirn with the Texas defenders service. Our office is a non-profit law if I were, we deal exclusively in death penalty cases both at the direct representation level and systemic research and report publication. I知 here in support of the resolution. I think the heart of this issue is, what the resolution is all about is caution. We know that -- that in a system run by human beings, we are bound to make mistakes, we have seen that across the country, we have seen that inside of our state of Texas. What we need to look at what we recognize that our system makes mistakes is the degree to which checks and balances in place can catch those mistakes before they become irreversible. One issue in particular that I would like to speak with you all about briefly this morning is the habeas corpus process. That is supposed to be the safety net in the system. The safety net to catch people who are innocent or undeserving of the death penalty. It is one issue where we have seen over the past 8 8 years a crisis and incompetent representation at that level. Our office produced a report that was published in December. The report is called "lethal indifference, the fatal combination of incompetent attorneys and unaccountable courts in Texas death penalty appeals." What we found when we looked over the past 8 years at level of representation in death penalty habeas corpus proceedings is shocking. We found attorneys who had been repeatedly disciplined for unethical behavior, attorneys who completely failed to fulfill their statutory obligation to investigate the case, attorneys who admitted by affidavit that they had done little or no meaningsful work on behalf of their clients. One lawyer sent a letter to his client on death row after being appointed by the court of criminal appeals, and in the letter it said, I quote, "i'm trying to get off your case and get you someone who is familiar with death penalty habeas corpus proceedings." In December a man named leonard rojas was executed by the state of Texas. His appointed habeas lawyer had been twice put on probated suspensions by the state bar. He had never before been appointed or handled a capital habeas proceeding and he was at the time of his appointment mentally ill. Two weeks after being appointed he received a third probated suspension for unethical behavior. This time for having a psychological impairment that affected his ability to represent his client. He add middled by sworn affidavit that he had done no outside the record investigation. This -- this level of representation was approved by the court of criminal appeals. The lawyer then missed a critical filing deadline and forfeited any federal review of mr. Hojas' case and that's one story of many that could be told about how the habeas corpus process is failing. The process is but one of many examples of the systemic flaws in our system. Mistaken eyewitness identifications, lying witnesses, prosecutor misconduct, racial discrimination, you name it, the list goes on and on and this resolution is a message that says we need to be more careful and we need to slow down and heed the warnings that we are getting from within our state and across the country. That there are mistakes and we do as a system want to catch the mistakes before it's too late. I would like to give you all a copy of our December report.
>> hello, my name is alison dieter, a member of the Texas moratorium network. You have heard about the many injustices inherent in the system and how much they need to be changed. And that can come about through a moratorium and study. And even if you are not inclined to accept these mistakes as mistakes, I would like to present to you some of the facts on the cost of the death penalty which at this pound in our budget process is a very onerous burden. In Texas, a death penalty case costs taxpayers an average of $2.3 million. About 3 times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. According to richard dieter, no relation, executive director of the death penalty information center in washington d.c. Former dallas county district attorney norman kinney states: even though I知 a firm believer in the death penalty, I also understand what the cost is. I think we could use the money better for additional penitentiary space, rehabilitation efforts, rehabilitation education and especially attention to juveniles. The jasper county, Texas case of the three men accused of killing james byrd, jr., Has cost $1.2 million to date. With other expenses expected. This case has forced a 6.7% increase in property taxes over two years. I believe it took one-tenth of their budget. Court appointed attorneys accident for 28%, travel travel, 20%, salary 17%, courthouse security, court reporter and so forth, so on. Dallas county is charging 6 prison escapees with capital murder in the killing of a police man in December, 2000. Governor perry has given the county $250,000 from discretionary state funds to assist with trial expenses. At an estimated 2.7 million, these trials will be the county's greatest cost for a single homicide. And jim maddox said life without parole could save million of dollars. And right now I believe that moratorium and study could also save millions of dollars. And I do have copies of this. And a copy of -- of several other articles here. And I have left them over there. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you for your comments.
>> beg your pardon?
>> thank you for your comments. Thank you.
>> good morning and thanks for the opportunity to be here. My name is susie painter, I work with the christian life commission of the baptist general convention of Texas. We are very -- we had a very interesting thing happen to us several years ago at one of our state-wide conventions. A layperson got up to the microphone and said I am confused, what's wrong with our system, would you please do a study and figure out how we can help? From that layman's request at the public microphone at our state-wide convention, we launched a two-year study commission from texans all around the state. Prosecutors, judges, prison officials, chaplains, pastors, laypersons, volunteers in the prison system to do a two-year study in both biblical, historical, the Texas application of the death penalty. It's pretty unusual for a group of baptists to come together over a topic like this and there was a lot of diversity of opinion upon our committee as they began their study. After two years, though, in -- in a written report, which we produced, our commission voted to come out with a moratorium, a stance for the moratorium on the death penalty in Texas. Many of our baptist associations and even the southern baptist convention nationally had voted in public and on their support of the proper application of the death penalty. But our Texas review commission could not see that the death penalty was being applied fairly and pointly and -- appropriately and consistently not only with the terms of biblical justice but with good, sound, civic principles in our state. So as a person who speaks to and with baptists across the state about public policy issues, I知 here today to represented a very grass roots organization who looked carefully with lots of different points of view to say, it's time for a moratorium. We need a recess. If our car is broken, you know, we listen for that little click or clack or bump under the hood and we don't wait until the transmission falls out on the highway before we take it into be fixed. That's our position is that it's time to listen to the voices, both national voices that are telling us we need to look at our system, voices within our own system, and people both pro death penalty and people who are for the abolition of the death penalty, and everybody in between is saying take a recess, let's look at it. And let's fix it. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> good morning. My name is dave atwood, I do work on the moratorium problem in -- in Texas. I知 here today to speak about the problems with the houston police department crime lab. And the need for a moratorium if for no other reason than to fix those problems that we are having with our crime labs. As you may know mayor brown and six members of the houston city council wrote governor perry asking for a moratorium on executions just because of the problems with the crime lab in houston. Now what this problem was an audit last year with the slab that reveal add number of very serious problems. Lack of training, lack of documentation, and most particularly a problem with contamination of d.n.a. Samples. This has affected probably about 1300 cases. I think about 100 of those cases have been referred for additional testing. A number of those cases are people that involve people on death row. But the problem with the d.n.a. Testing is only one of the problems with the crime lab. There's also been problems identified with ballistics testing and also even with testing of blood samples. It's really devastating to think the -- the -- that we could have these kind of problems in our crime labs. And then -- that we could have people on death row and perhaps we have even executed people who didn't have proper d.n.a. Testing or some other tests done in a crime lab and ended up on death row subsequently were executed. You know, this problem is not just to the houston lab. You have probably read in the paper that it's also a problem with the fort worth lab. But it brings up the question of how many crime labs have these type of problems. I don't know how many crime labs have had this kind of a detailed audit. But it -- it pa cast a dark shadow on all of our crime labs. There's even a report I think in the newspaper yesterday that the f.b.i. Crime lab has had problems, also. So we have some serious problems. We really do need to -- considering all of the other problems that have been brought up already today and that are mentioned in the resolution, if we add this -- this problem that we have with the crime labs, when we have worked on the moratorium in the past, we weren't even thinking about -- about problems with crime labs. We were just thinking about the problems with -- with ineffective legal counsel, police and prosecutor misconduct, some of the racial problems, problems with the appeals system, clemency procedures. We weren't thinking about crime lab problems. Now this has come down and it just shows how broken and flawed the system is that we have. And to think that we have been sending people to death row and maybe to -- to their own death when we have these kind of problems in our crime labs, it's just -- it's a devastating overwhelming thought. So I ask for -- from my perspective for your support today. I think the moratorium is the very least that we can be doing in this state to try to correct the problems that we have.
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> good morning, my name is hector ortiz with the william c. Velasquez institute. It's a sister organization of the southwest voter registration application project in san antonio. And most of -- most of what I was going to say has already been said, so I知 not going to elaborate anymore. Just to say that last week we actually joined aclu and lulac and other organizations asking for immediate moratorium just because of the houston case alone. I think that it's important that -- that people like yourself who are elected officials take a lied on leading -- to a lead on leading people to resolving this important issue. I just want to say thank you for being brave enough to pass this. I know there's a lot of people who call themselves leaders out there, who are actually just staying back because apparently that's what the people want is just to have the death penalty. But [indiscernible] one time, a genuine leaders doesn't reflect consensus. He or she molds consensus. That's what you are doing today. I appreciate that. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> are we able to quantify the increased likelihood of say, imposition of the death penalty in the capital case if you are represented by a court appointed counsel versus if you are able to retain your own lawyer? I know generally if most of the people on death row are poor, that means they probably were represented by court appointed council. But are we able to -- are we able to sort of quantify increased likelihood?
>> I知 not aware of any studies that have been done in this state, although I think there is ongoing research in harris county about that issue in particular. But as an office that we -- that one of the things that we do is a case tracking system where we review each case as execution dates come up. I can tell you that -- that I could count on one hand the number of retained counsel cases. Certainly in the appellate process. Acquired appointed lawyers, both at the trial level and appellate level that it's really problematic.
>> we are trying to improve that. Thanks to the legislature last session, paying more, paying more for investigators,, you new out a figure out, that figure will increase, hopefully the quality of service will improve.
>> mayor, also, senate bill 1224 is addressing some of the habeas issues in terms of representation and it's -- it's made its way from the senate and headed to the house.
>> right, thanks. If there were someone that we all knew was guilty of a heinous crime, would this proclamation be against going through the death penalty for that person tomorrow? In your mind. Would this stop all -- if this could become effective today, and there were people out there that you knew deserved the death penalty, maybe philosophically you don't support the death penalty, but -- how would you feel about that?
>> I believe that the moratorium would affect all cases. The difficulty is sorting out those that we "no" from those that we don't." Know" from those that we don't. Because of the flaws in the system, unless the murder took place on television here in the Commissioners courtroom in front of thousands, it's hard to come to a consensus on that, that's why we have the jury process. I do think that, though, that the likelihood of error is so great, given the problems that have been described here, that it's worthwhile to put everybody on hold to sort that out. I think if the process is examined, that those people who are truly guilty will move forward and will receive their sentence as they deserve. I think that will happen. We have -- it seems to be a tradition of people waiting on death row for a long time for that sentence to be imposed. I think that personally is cruel and unusual in and of itself. I think you ought to just go ahead and carry it out if you are entitled to be execute md. I don't think that those people would object to waiting to have cases examined to make sure that there weren't crime lab problems or whatever else underlying those sentences and at the end of the day, those folks are out of society. They are not back in society. They are not likely to commit another crime. You can't do too much on death row. So I think society is protected during that moratorium. I think the rights of the individuals and the right to -- to be alive is certainly right at the top of the list would be protected by the moratorium.
>> any idea about how long it would take a -- an outstanding blue ribbon committee to do its work? Come up with uniform standards, say for the state of Texas, not --
>> I don't know if there's any, you know, prescribed type, but many times you hear about one or two years for a study. Two years is -- is a nominal time. There would be a time period associated with any moratorium. The moratorium is not abolition of the death penalty. It's a temporary halt to executions while the study is studied and approved. And -- so there is a time frame associated.
>> but do you know --
>> looks like the fast case is where the appeal is expedited and the fast case is -- fast cases result in carrying out the penalty four, five, six years later. I have seen 10 or 12 years, seem to be about the average every now and then on the fast track. Four, five, six years, looks like
>> ... So that is the place somebody is convicted to death there, we need to be very careful make sure we go back and do investigation, make sure no innocent people have been put to death in that place.
>> question for travis.
>> I can give you that right now, sir. Five people.
>> thank you.
>> as you all know, words are real important to me and the words in this resolution, I read them and I studied them, but for me, a yes vote on this is not going to reflect my opinion on what's going on with the death penalty because I think a blanket moratorium will unfairly impact many cases where the issues that you legitimately raised in this resolution are not relevant and I base that on the cases that I know of personally here in Travis County where I attended those trials and I had a great deal of faith in the court-appointed attorneys, the quality of the court-appointed attorneys and the wonderful judges that sat through and made sure that we did have justice here in Travis County. But a no vote also does not reflect my opinion on this issue because there are some individual cases of people who sit on death row that are incredibly disturbing. The henry case was just abominable. So in this case I知 going to abstain on this motion because my personal opinions completely outweigh my duty I think to try and balance life experiences with research that you do with making good public policy. And here are the reasons why. Katy Davis, brandon baugh. Colleen reed, sarah harbison. Yvette johnson and her kids, kelly markwar, these are people that I did not know but I got to know through their family and their friends, and I respect deeply the passion on this issue and I hope that you will also respect the opinions that we all have that may or may not be exactly the same as your, but I hope we will also not question how we reached the conclusions that we reached. Thank you.
>> and I think one of the things that i've learned serving on this Commissioner's court is there's a lot of processes that we have in place and it's essential that we study those processes from time to time, because different people come into the mix and they bring different levels of education and understanding of issues that affect our constituents. I知 very proud of Travis County's record, and I think we're a very -- we take the freedom of people very seriously, and you can tell that's reflected in our judiciary, and in our prosecutors and -- but that may not be the case throughout Texas or throughout the rest of the country, and so I think that one of the reasons that we are one of the best counties probably in the whole country is that we do from time to time go back and study our processes and make sure that everyone is on board as to what needs to be done, how it is to be done, and that ethics always has to be part of the mix, and I think, though, that for me, if one life is lost, that's too many. And I think we're beginning to go where -- to a place that I知 not very fond of at all and that is we seem to take life very lightly and it's okay to execute, you know, great numbers of people and that bothers me tremendously. And so I think if one person is lost, it is worth locking at our process, and -- you know, we're real good at catching up sometimes on different issues, so I think that those people who are guilty I think will continue to face the judiciary here in Travis County, the prosecutors and the attorneys, but that doesn't mean that we can't improve the process, and I look forward to that. Thank you.
>> thank you very much for coming in and sharing with us your experience, knowledge, et cetera. Based on all the reasons that you gave and what's in the resolution, I think the moratorium is a right thing to do. That's why I知 voting in favor of it. All in favor motion to approve. Seconded. Commissioner Gomezs, Davis, Commissioner Daugherty abstaining, Commissioner Sonleitner...
>> thank you.
>> thank you for coming in. All right. Thank y'all very much.
Last Modified: Tuesday, April 29, 2003 6:52 PM