Monday, September 12, 2005

Frances Newton, Only Three Days Left

As far as I know the execution of Frances Newton is still scheduled to occur on September 14th and the Texas Innocence Project still has motions before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the Governor of Texas and the Board of Pardons and Parole.

Also as far as I know the questions related to multiple guns and the incompetence of the original trial attorney are still unresolved. Any place else but Texas and I honestly think everything would be on hold until the issues were ironed out. I'm still convinced that there is more than enough doubt here to warrent additional investigation and clarification and clearly so does the University of Houston Law Center. Just what the hell is the problem here?

That being said, I have to admit that the more I learn about this case, the more I see why the Houston DA is convinced that this lady is guilty. Reportedly a retest of the ballistics verified that the gun originally identified as the murder weapon was in fact the weapon used. So much for the issue of the discredited Houston Crime Lab. This gun is the same one that the Houston police insist was the one that Newton admitted placing in the abandoned building. Assuming the ballistics conclusion is correct, the only real argument the defense has for innocence is that somehow the guns got mixed up and the wrong gun was tested. Is it possible that the crime lab was that incompetent?

Other than that, only arguments related to the non-disclosure of a second weapon and the incompetence of council are available. While these arguments place the fairness of Newton's trial in question, they don't really point toward a conclusion of innocence.

Nevertheless, I'd much rather see the executions of 1,000 guilty people stayed than allow the execution of a single innocent man or woman. I find it hard to believe that Governor Perry doesn't want a resolution to these questions which strike at the integrity of the justice system in Texas.

Of course, on the other hand, using "integrity," "justice" and "Texas" in the same sentence is something of a compound oxymoron isn't it?

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