George W. Bush’s finest hour as governor of Texas

George W. Bush did several things as president that earned my praise, although he would do many others — like starting two wars — that drew my harsh criticism.

But during his five-year tenure as governor of Texas, there is really only one action by Bush I regarded as praiseworthy and even heroic, especially for one who at the time brandished the “tough guy” image and had campaigned as the candidate who would be harsh on criminals.

During his governorship, Bush presided over 152 executions, more than any other governor in the history of the state — until his successor Rick Perry came along. There were 278 people put to death on Perry’s watch.

The most noted death penalty case under Bush was that of Karla Faye Tucker, who, in 1998, became the first woman to be executed in Texas since 1863.

There was much pressure from all over the world for the governor to commute her sentence to life or, at the very least, to grant a 30-day reprieve for the woman who had become a born-again Christian while on Death Row.

Bush, who already had higher political ambitions, would not budge.

In a statement denying the delay, in which he acknowledged receiving calls for mercy as well those demanding accountability, the governor said it was his “responsibility to ensure our laws are enforced fairly and evenly without preference or special treatment.”

When Bush allowed Karla Faye Tucker to die, capital punishment opponents saw little hope that anyone else on Death Row would ever receive anything resembling mercy from the governor.

Then, four months later, Bush did the noble thing in the case of Henry Lee Lucas, a notorious serial killer — and also a notorious liar, because it was determined that he didn’t commit nearly the number of murders to which he had confessed.

Lucas was a one-eyed drifter who had killed his mother and probably a couple of other women before being arrested in Texas in 1983 on a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm.

While in custody, he began confessing to numerous unsolved murders in Texas and across the country. The number of victims he claimed to have killed eventually got up to 600, with jurisdictions clearing their books of more than 200 previously unsolved cases based on Lucas’ confessions.

He was convicted of 10 murders, including that of an unidentified woman found north of Austin who was known simply as “Orange Socks,” because that’s all she was wearing when her body was discovered. For various crimes, Lucas received six life sentences, 210 years in prison and the death penalty for the Orange Socks killing.

As it turned out, the case for which Lucas was sentenced to die is one authorities became certain he could not have committed. Research by journalists for a Dallas newspaper, as well as time lines established by investigators, showed that Lucas was likely in Jacksonville, Fla., at the time of the murder.

On the recommendation of Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox, and over the objection of the Williamson County district attorney, the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole advised Gov. Bush to grant a 270-day reprieve and to commute Lucas’ death sentence to life.

Bush agreed, noting, “The first question I ask in each death penalty case is whether there is any doubt about whether the individual is guilty of the crime. While Henry Lee Lucas is guilty of committing a number of horrible crimes, serious concerns have been raised about his guilt in this case.”

I contend that this was Bush’s finest hour as governor.

Greg Abbott should show the same courage and halt the scheduled March 5 execution of Rodney Reed. There is credible evidence that Reed is innocent.

This story was originally published February 20, 2015 at 7:28 PM with the headline "George W. Bush’s finest hour as governor of Texas."