[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA.

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 24


TEXAS:

Rick Perry Has OK'ed More Death Row Executions Than Any Governor In Modern 
History


As the longest-running governor of Texas, Rick Perry has overseen 234 death row 
executions — more than any other governor in modern history.

The Washington Post reports that the 2012 presidential hopeful has has presided 
over nearly 1/2 of the state's executions since the Supreme Court reinstated 
the death penalty in 1976, and more than the combined total of the next 2 
states, Oklahoma and Virginia.

The high number is partly explained by Perry's lengthy gubernatorial tenure — 
the annual rate was actually higher under Perry's predecessor, George W. Bush, 
who oversaw 152 executions during his five years as governor.

Texas is also a bastion for capital punishment. Unlike other states, Texas has 
streamlined the legal process for death penalty cases, cutting down the time 
between conviction and execution. The governor is blocked from calling for a 
moratorium on the death penalty and can grant clemency if it is recommended by 
the state Board of Pardon and Paroles.

As the Post notes, Perry has not shied away from the executions. A staunch 
supporter of the death penalty, Perry vetoed a bill that would have barred the 
execution of the mentally retarded and came out strongly against a U.S. Supreme 
Court ruling forbidding states to put minors on death row. In his 11 years as 
governor, Perry has commuted the sentence of only one death row inmate.

By itself, Perry's willingness to use the death penalty is unlikely to be a 
problem for his 2012 presidential bid. Though controversial, capital punishment 
is still popular among Americans.

But one of the cases — the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham — could 
come back to haunt Perry on the campaign trail. The incident, documented in an 
award-winning 2009 New Yorker story, has raised questions about whether Perry 
allowed an innocent man to be executed, and then limited the investigation that 
followed.

(source: The Business Insider)






FLORIDA----impending execution

Death Penalty Returns To Florida----Manuel Valle Execution Slated For Sept. 1


The death penalty is back in Florida. The drug used in the lethal injection 
cocktail came under fire when attorneys representing a man scheduled to be 
executed argued it was cruel and unusual punishment.

Attorneys for Manuel Valle claimed the drug had not been thoroughly studied, 
but a judge in Miami-Dade County did not agree.

Valle, who was found guilty of killing a Coral Gables police officer, is 
scheduled for execution on Sept.1.

(source: WESH News)