200 Executions and Counting: Texas Gov. Rick Perry's Cruel Death Tally

By Liliana Segura, AlterNet. Posted June 2, 2009.

"In Texas, the situation is compounded by the political system of electing judges, such as Sharon Keller, who are allowed to make egregious pro-death-penalty statements when they run for office and to present themselves as 'pro-prosecution' when they should be impartial arbiters of justice. Politicians are several steps behind public opinion on the death-penalty issue."

Cobb argues that, when presented with the damning evidence that there are innocent people on death row, Texans would certainly reconsider the death penalty.

"If we had a referendum in Texas on a moratorium on executions, that is a vote we could win," he says. "When people are informed about the problems in the system, then they are supportive of a moratorium on executions. I am absolutely sure that Texas will abolish the death penalty in my lifetime, and Rick Perry's record of 200-plus executions will never again be matched."

A Day of Action Against Executions

In December 2005, Texas executed its 1,000th prisoner since the return of capital punishment in 1976. "This 1,000th execution is a milestone," Thomas Maher, the defense attorney who represented Kenneth Boyd, the 1,000th prisoner, said after watching his client be put to death. "It's a milestone we should all be ashamed of."

Perry has overseen more executions than any other governor in U.S. history. As he approaches his own morbid professional milestone, a network of activists throughout Texas -- and in cities across the globe -- will hold protests calling for an end to the barbaric practice of state-sanctioned murder.

"The Texas anti-death-penalty community asks people around the world to focus attention on Texas and join us in protesting the 200th execution carried out under Rick Perry," announced Cobb of the Texas Moratorium Network. "Altogether, Texas has executed 438 people since 1982, including 152 under former Texas Gov. George W. Bush."

Cobb urges people to call Perry at 512-463-1782 and/or to e-mail him using the form on his Web site. ("We suggest you both call him and e-mail him.")

"I hope to tell the world outside Texas that we need their help to pressure Texas to stop executions," says Cobb. " ... Many people around the world have business and other relationships with Texas, such as Leipzig, Germany, which is holding a protest on June 2, and which has a sister city relationship with Houston.

"For the people of Texas, I want to use the occasion of this appalling milestone to educate them about the unjust system that is carrying out executions in their names. Not only has Texas likely executed innocent people, like Todd Willingham, it has also sent people to death row who did not even kill anyone but who were sentenced to death under the Law of Parties because someone else killed someone, people like Jeff Wood, who may soon receive another execution date if the courts decide he is mentally fit for execution. Jeff Wood did not kill anyone. He was in a car outside when another person killed someone." (Read more about Wood, here.)

Bryan McCann, of the Austin chapter of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty said: "For the 200th time in his career as governor, Rick Perry -- with the complicity of the Texas Legislature and courts -- has made it clear that he is uninterested in acknowledging the mounting and irrefutable evidence that the death penalty is incompatible with the aims of a just society.

"This grim milestone is an important opportunity to put Perry and his allies on notice that they are fighting a losing battle."

See more stories tagged with: texas, death penalty, george w. bush, rick perry, capital punishment, timothy cole, terry lee hankins, napolean beazely, frances newton, cameron todd willingham, ronald mock, texas board of pardons

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »