Texas Atty. Gen. John Cornyn indignantly denies that executing a convicted murderer in Texas is a “reckless, haphazard rush to judgment” (“Fair and square: Texas-style executions,” Commentary, March 3). He concludes that although Illinois may have wrongful convictions, it is not so in Texas. He conveniently neglects to note, however, that seven men have been exonerated and released from Death Row in Texas.
Cornyn’s major defense of the Texas death penalty system is his assertion that experienced, competent defense counsels represent all Death Row inmates in Texas. Unfortunately this is just not true. In one example, a clerk reported that a court-appointed lawyer slept through most of a trial. In another instance, a lawyer referred to his gay client as a “queer” and a “fairy” in front of jurors, and the prosecutor made the outrageous suggestion that the death penalty was appropriate in this instance, especially because life in prison would not be a punishment for a gay man.
In truth, Texas is worse than Illinois. They do not have a Gov. George Ryan to declare a moratorium.
