Thursday, November 19, 2009

Not letting humanity get in the way of politics

Despite a plea from the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole to commute the death sentence of Robert Lee Thompson to life in prison, Governor Rick Perry authorized the poison to flow through Mr. Thompson's veins this evening.

Mr. Thompson, along with Sammy Butler, was convicted of capital murder in the 1966 slaying of convenience store clerk Mansoor Rahim Mohammed during an armed robbery in Houston. Ironically enough, Mr. Thompson was not the one who pulled the trigger - that "honor" went to Mr. Butler who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison because the state couldn't prove intended to kill Mr. Mohammed.

That's right, under Texas' law of parties, anyone involved in the commission of a crime - no matter how small his role - can be found guilty of the whole enchilada. While I understand the law of parties and, to a degree, support it, I can't help but think we should draw the line at capital murder. If we are going to have a death penalty then it must be reserved for the most heinous of crimes and those who perpetrated them - not for the person who drove the getaway car or who watched the door.

It is absurd that the Blow-dried One ignored the parole board and allowed the execution of Mr. Thompson to go forward. All in the name of getting re-elected.

Perry has already presided over the state-sponsored murder of an innocent man and stacked an investigatory body to cover up that very fact. Now this...

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