Rick Perry executes another innocent man

[Uncle Lee]

If the it is the law and the law is broken and a jury of his peers found him guilty then the judge sentences him to death, the governor is not the one putting him to death. The law is the one putting him to death.

If you don’t like the law, change it.

That is what makes America America. We have the power to make and change laws.

 

[T.Lex]

correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you get a automatic appeal when you're convicted of a capital crime?

Sorta. You get an attorney, typically one specially trained in the defense of capital cases, who vigorously pursues every appellate issue they can imagine.

Capital Litigation Procedure 101
Every criminal case has 3 opportunities for appeal: direct appeal (state), post-conviction appeal (state), habeas corpus (federal). Also, at each stage there is a shot at the US Supreme Court, but those are rare for the first 2 stages (well, rare among the rare cases that get to SCOTUS). The states have some leeway on the procedures for the first 2 stages. (BTW, INPO, Indiana has one of the best systems for capital punishment of all the states.)

Now, since those are available to every convicted defendant, they are also available to capital cases. Nowadays, the capital defendants often have very good lawyers who know how to delay the system. A big part of it is just a waiting game. But, they take advantage of every procedural device they can.

Using Indiana as an example, for a "straightforward" capital case by the time a guy is executed it has been reviewed by:
12 people on a jury (trial)
1 trial court judge (trial)
5 justices on the state supreme court (direct appeal)*
1 trial court judge (post-conviction action)
5 justices on the state supreme court (post-conviction appeal)*
1 federal trial court judge (habeas)
3 federal appellate judges (habeas)**

So, what that amounts to is 12 jurors, and somewhere between 11 and 16 judges (minimum) agreeing that the death penalty is legally appropriate in a given case.

* Not counting potential review by the US Supreme Court at these stages.
** Not counting potential review by the federal appellate court en banc.

 

[Roadie]

"Rick Perry executes another innocent man"
Is about as disingenuous as:

"Guns Kill People"

 

[GREEN607]

I'll stay out of this one........................ (oops!)