Wrong man was executed in Texas, probe says

[JonLP24]

He was the spitting image of the killer, had the same first name and was near the scene of the crime at the fateful hour: Carlos DeLuna paid the ultimate price and was executed in place of someone else in Texas in 1989, a report out Tuesday found.

Even "all the relatives of both Carloses mistook them," and DeLuna was sentenced to death and executed based only on eyewitness accounts despite a range of signs he was not a guilty man, said law professor James Liebman.

Liebman and five of his students at Columbia School of Law spent almost five years poring over details of a case that he says is "emblematic" of legal system failure.

<snip>

The report's authors found "numerous missteps, missed clues and missed opportunities that let authorities prosecute Carlos DeLuna for the crime of murder, despite evidence not only that he did not commit the crime but that another individual, Carlos Hernandez, did," the 780-page investigation found.

http://news.yahoo.com/wrong-man-executed-texas-probe-says-051125159.html

[gratuitous]

1. Dammit, quit doing that

And by "that" I don't mean Texas should quit executing innocent people, I mean that we need to quit looking at evidence and due process and shit and finding out that we're executing innocent people. The death train is steaming down the track of justice, and it's only you goddam libruls and your unnatural attachment to a quaint old document (superannuated by our fear of terrorists and super-predator criminals) keeping the United States from fulfilling its glorious destiny.

Jeez, the next thing you know, people are going to start questioning our world-wide program of summary execution by drone missile strike. Get it right: They're all guilty, or they wouldn't be dead. It's sooooo simple!

[hlthe2b]

2. Your satiric take underscores a devastating....

truth... Gawd, how many times have I heard very vocal pro-capitol punishment advocates (pro-war and pro gun advocates) defending the "occasional" collateral damage.

[Mariana]

3. Indeed. I think most DP proponents don't mind

if the wrong guy gets done once in awhile. it's worth it so long as we kill a whole bunch of guilty ones. I've heard them say that even if a guy is executed who wasn't guilty of THAT particular crime, he no doubt deserved it for something else he did and got away with. Of course, none of the people who say that have ever been wrongly accused of any crime.

[Uncle Joe]

5. Those people's ancestors were probably gambling

for Jesus' clothes.

[sadbear]

4. Fat Tony says it's not a problem

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/09/20/supreme-court-justice-antonin-scalia-says-executing-an-innocent-man-is-not-unconstitutional/

[rhett o rick]

6. George Bush made it clear that it doesnt matter if you execute the wrong

person now and then. They are all low-lifes so what's the harm. That's the attitude I got from him and Perry both.

[Mariana]

7. I think that's a pretty common sentiment

among those who favor the DP.