Texans too quiet about their state’s broken justice system

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia famously dismissed concerns about the death penalty in 2005 by claiming that his colleagues could not cite "a single case — not one — in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit." He scoffed, "If such an event had occurred in recent years, we would not have to hunt for it; the innocent’s name would be shouted from the rooftops by the abolition lobby."

I wonder whether he’s weary of hearing the name Cameron Todd Willingham by now.

I’m normally one to advocate less hollering in the public square, not more, but I think Texans need to make sure our elected officials are sick and tired of hearing that name and others shouted from the rooftops, whether Scalia is or not. More about that in a moment.

First, in a May column, I wrote about the need for reform in the Texas criminal justice system. I made a boneheaded factual error that I could have — and should have — easily avoided. Tarrant County District Clerk Tom Wilder and District Attorney Joe Shannon rightfully informed readers of these pages that Tarrant County preserves DNA evidence in criminal cases after conviction and appeal, contrary to what I wrote.

That was embarrassing, and I sorely wish I had it to do over again, but I haven’t changed my mind about the state’s need for stronger post-conviction review processes and safeguards against overzealous prosecution of the sort that doomed Willingham. I believe that subsequent events — including the release of Michael Toney, whom Tarrant County had convicted of three 1985 murders (prosecutors, it was later found, withheld evidence favorable to his defense during trial; Toney died in an accident in October before he could be retried), and Gov. Rick Perry’s politicized handling of the Texas Forensic Science Commission — underline the urgent need for reform.

Either way, the issue of post-conviction review is not going to disappear. It persists because Willingham is not the only Texas death penalty recipient about whose guilt substantial reasonable doubts remain. (See for instance the award-winning documentary At the Death House Door, which all but proves the innocence of Carlos De Luna, whowas executed for the murder of a Corpus Christi convenience store clerk in 1989.) It will endure because every time you think you’ve heard the worst our criminal-justice system can offer, the system will surprise you with an even more heinous outrage.

For example, consider the plight of Robert Lee Thompson, who has been on Death Row since being convicted for his part in the 1996 robbery and murder of Houston convenience store clerk Mansoor Rahim. There’s no question that Thompson is guilty of multiple violent crimes and has a significant debt to repay to society. Based on the evidence presented at his trial and recounted in an Oct. 26 Houston Chronicle report, he belongs behind bars, and I have no doubt that Texans are safer with him there.

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