I thought Texas governor Rick Perry handled himself with repose
and restraint when he answered Brian Williams’ loaded question
about the death penalty during last week’s GOP presidential debate
at the Reagan Library. Williams
asked:
Governor Perry, a question about Texas. Your state
has executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor in
modern times. Have you struggled to sleep at night with the idea
that any one of them, those (sic) might have
been innocent?
Some were appalled that the audience erupted in
applause when they heard that Texas had executed 234 people during
Perry’s tenure. Glenn Greenwald at Salon
called the applause “creepy and disgusting.” Speaking of creepy
and disgusting, it is worth noting that Greenwald’s piece has a
picture of Governor Perry beside one of Osama bin Laden. Greenwald
possesses all the subtlety of a ball-peen hammer.
When Williams asked Perry what he made of “the
mention that the execution of 234 people just drew applause,” the
governor began his reply by simply stating, “Americans understand
justice.” Yet I suspect that Brian Williams’ concept of justice is
quite different from that of a majority of Americans. Williams
leaves one with the impression that these 234 people were
upstanding citizens who found themselves in the wrong place at the
wrong time. No. These 234 people committed the most heinous crimes
imaginable. Let’s take a look at but a few of the people who have
been executed in Texas over the past year or so.
On June 15, 2010, the state of Texas executed
David Powell for the 1978 murder of police officer Ralph
Ablanedo. Powell shot Ablanedo at least four times with an AK-47.
The execution of Powell brought relief to Ablanedo’s family, who
had been
waiting more than three decades for justice to be
served.
On October 21, 2010, the state of Texas executed
Larry
Wooten for the 1996 murder of 80-year old Grady Alexander and
his 86-year-old wife Bessie. Wooten stabbed the elderly couple and
slit their throats, nearly beheading them. Wooten also beat Mrs.
Alexander with a pistol with such force that the grip and portions
of the trigger mechanism broke off. To add insult to injury, Wooten
then robbed the
Alexanders of over $500 in cash.
On February 22, 2011, the state of Texas executed
Timothy
Wayne Adams for the 2002 murder of his 19-month old
son, whom he twice shot in the chest. Adams’ attorneys
maintained that the shooting was brought about by “an emotional
crisis” when he learned his wife was going to leave him. As if
killing a defenseless child is a natural response to an emotional
crisis.
On July 7, 2011, the state of Texas executed
Humberto Leal Garcia, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, for the
1994 abduction, rape, and murder of a 16-year old girl named Adria
Saveda. Garcia sexually assaulted Saveda with a piece of lumber and
then crushed her skull with a 35-pound piece of asphalt. When
Saveda’s body was found, the piece of lumber was still
protruding from her genitalia. You would think that someone
like Garcia wouldn’t inspire much sympathy. But you would be
wrong.
Because authorities in Texas did not inform Garcia
of his rights to contact the Mexican consulate when he was in
custody, his case and that of other Mexican nationals was
championed by the UN International Court of Justice, which in 2004
ruled that the
United States had violated the Vienna Convention and ordered it to
review all death row convictions of Mexican nationals. Yet Garcia
did not disclose that he was a Mexican national at the time of
his arrest nor was the issue raised by his attorneys either prior
to or during his trial.
Nevertheless, President Obama saw fit to petition the Supreme
Court to block Garcia’s execution on the basis of the 2004 ICJ
decision. The White House made the case that if Garcia was executed
then it would do “irreparable harm” to Americans’ interests and
that Americans detained abroad would be denied due process. Does
anyone honestly think Iran would refrain from detaining American
hikers because the U.S. didn’t execute Garcia? It should be noted
that former president George W. Bush and former secretary of state
Colin Powell also
agreed that Garcia’s execution should be stayed.
Writing in the American
Thinker, Monte Kuligowski begs to
differ:
For all the “irreparable harm” against America’s
interests envisioned by the global-minded elitists of the world, it
should be noted that Garcia was afforded full constitutional
protections before, during, and after trial.
Though he was executed for his heinous and
unspeakable acts, Garcia enjoyed all the constitutional rights of
U.S. citizens, including the assistance of legal counsel and trial
by jury.
When it was just about to be all said and done,
Garcia confessed to his crime moments before his execution,
stating, “I am sorry for the victim’s family for what I had did.
May they forgive me.” His final
words were “Viva Mexico. Viva Mexico.”
President Obama used his prestige to stand up for a
murderer and rapist of a child. Governor Perry and the authorities
in Texas, by contrast, stood up for Adria Saveda and her
family.
While Brian Williams and liberal elites might have
trouble sleeping at night because the Lone Star state sees fit to
execute rapists and murderers, the good people of Texas sleep
soundly.
