AUSTIN—A group of death row survivors called on the Texas Legislature on Friday to halt executions in the nation's most active death penalty state and establish an innocence commission to free other wrongfully convicted inmates.
"There have been some innocent people that have been executed right here in Texas," said Clarence Brandley, who spent nine years on death row in Texas before being exonerated in the murder of a Conroe teenager. "But the politicians are not going to say that."
Brandley was joined at the state capitol by 19 other men who had been released from death row in various states. They want the Texas Legislature to declare a death penalty moratorium while experts examine how capital punishment is carried out in the state.
Former Bexar County District Attorney Sam Millsap said Texas, which has executed 419 people since the reinstatement of the death penalty, has the "most efficient death machine in the free world."
Millsap, who once supported capital punishment but now believes he probably sent an innocent man to the death chamber, said he joined the opposition movement because he lost faith in the justice system.
"I oppose the death penalty for entirely practical reasons," he said. "Based on my personal experience, I'm not longer confident that our criminal justice system can keep the promise we made to ourselves."
Millsap has expressed doubts about the guilt of Ruben Cantu, convicted of a 1984 murder in San Antonio.
Millsap said he prosecuted Cantu based on the account of a single eyewitness. Cantu was executed in 1993, but Millsap said he now believes he was "probably innocent."
State Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, is pushing legislation that would allow Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, to impose a death penalty ban. Naishtat also wants to establish an innocence commission to free the wrongly convicted.
Perry has said previously that there are enough safeguards in the Texas justice system and has expressed opposition to a moratorium on the death penalty.
Source : Associated Press (El Paso Times), 10/31/2008
"There have been some innocent people that have been executed right here in Texas," said Clarence Brandley, who spent nine years on death row in Texas before being exonerated in the murder of a Conroe teenager. "But the politicians are not going to say that."
Brandley was joined at the state capitol by 19 other men who had been released from death row in various states. They want the Texas Legislature to declare a death penalty moratorium while experts examine how capital punishment is carried out in the state.
Former Bexar County District Attorney Sam Millsap said Texas, which has executed 419 people since the reinstatement of the death penalty, has the "most efficient death machine in the free world."
Millsap, who once supported capital punishment but now believes he probably sent an innocent man to the death chamber, said he joined the opposition movement because he lost faith in the justice system.
"I oppose the death penalty for entirely practical reasons," he said. "Based on my personal experience, I'm not longer confident that our criminal justice system can keep the promise we made to ourselves."
Millsap has expressed doubts about the guilt of Ruben Cantu, convicted of a 1984 murder in San Antonio.
Millsap said he prosecuted Cantu based on the account of a single eyewitness. Cantu was executed in 1993, but Millsap said he now believes he was "probably innocent."
State Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, is pushing legislation that would allow Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, to impose a death penalty ban. Naishtat also wants to establish an innocence commission to free the wrongly convicted.
Perry has said previously that there are enough safeguards in the Texas justice system and has expressed opposition to a moratorium on the death penalty.
Source : Associated Press (El Paso Times), 10/31/2008
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