The Chicago Tribune has distinguished itself with its stories on Carlos De Luna - a man who was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of Gas Station clerk Wanda Lopez;
The Tribune, which also distinguished itself in its investigative reporting on the Cameron Todd Willingham case, published a three-part special report - to be run over the next three posts on this Blog - which suggests that De Luna died for another man's crime.
(Tribune reporter's Steve Mills and Maurice Possley reported both the Willingham and De Luna stories;)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"THERE IS NO MECHANISM UNDER TEXAS LAW TO INVESTIGATE SUCH CASES OR PAY COMPENSATION TO THE FAMILY OF AN INMATE WRONGFULLY EXECUTED, CASAREZ SAID.
THE TEXAS LEGISLATURE HAS SHOWN LITTLE INTEREST IN THE IDEA. DEMOCRATIC STATE SEN. RODNEY ELLIS HAS TWICE INTRODUCED BILLS TO CREATE AN INNOCENCE COMMISSION TO STUDY OLD DEATH PENALTY CASES "TO FIND OUT WHAT WENT WRONG IN THE SYSTEM," SAID ELLIS' CHIEF OF STAFF, KENNETH BESSERMAN. NEITHER BILL MADE IT OUT OF COMMITTEE.
"THERE IS STRONG OPPOSITION IN THE LEGISLATURE TO CREATING A COMMISSION TO GO BACK TO OPEN UP THESE CASES," BESSERMAN SAID."
HOWARD WITT:TRIBUNE SENIOR CORRESPONDENT;
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Texas urged to probe claims of wrongful executions
By Howard Witt | Tribune senior correspondent
July 7, 2006;
"HOUSTON - Opponents of the death penalty in Texas, joined by the sister of a Corpus Christi man who may have been executed for a murder he did not commit, called on Texas officials Thursday to establish a commission to investigate claims that innocent prisoners have been put to death in the nation's most aggressive death penalty state," the follow-up to the series begins;
""Texas officials never want to admit that they made a mistake," said David Atwood, founder of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. "It's a horrible thing that we killed an innocent person," it continues;
"Atwood was responding to a Chicago Tribune series last month that uncovered evidence strongly suggesting that Carlos De Luna was put to death in 1989 for a murder committed by another man who later bragged that he was the killer.
The Tribune series found that De Luna's case was compromised by unreliable eyewitnesses, sloppy police work and a failure by prosecutors to pursue evidence pointing to the other man, who died in prison while serving time for another crime.
Related links
Tribune investigation
Wrong man executed? "My brother was killed by the state of Texas on Dec. 7, 1989," Rose Rhoton, De Luna's sister, told a news conference. "He insisted time after time that he did not commit this crime. But nobody ever took the time to investigate."
Atwood said his group had evidence that at least 10 other prisoners executed by the state of Texas may have been innocent. The state has carried out 368 executions since 1976, far more than any other state.
"Most people do not like the concept of executing innocent people," Atwood said. "You have to ask yourself, what is it with the state of Texas that causes all these executions?"
Earlier this year, four top arson experts concluded that Texas executed Cameron Todd Willingham in 2004 based on scientifically invalid evidence and called for an official reinvestigation of the case by the Texas Forensic Science Commission. The commission was created in 2005 to examine allegations of professional negligence or misconduct affecting forensic analysis in all cases, not just death penalty prosecutions.
The experts' independent review of the evidence followed a separate investigation by the Tribune that showed Willingham had been found guilty on arson theories that have been repudiated by scientific advances. Many of the theories were simply lore passed on by generations of arson investigators.
Atwood, joined by Nicole Casarez, a journalism professor at the University of St. Thomas in Houston who has researched suspected cases of wrongful executions, urged Texas legislators to establish a special court of inquiry to review cases like De Luna's as they come to light.
There is no mechanism under Texas law to investigate such cases or pay compensation to the family of an inmate wrongfully executed, Casarez said.
The Texas Legislature has shown little interest in the idea. Democratic State Sen. Rodney Ellis has twice introduced bills to create an innocence commission to study old death penalty cases "to find out what went wrong in the system," said Ellis' chief of staff, Kenneth Besserman. Neither bill made it out of committee.
"There is strong opposition in the Legislature to creating a commission to go back to open up these cases," Besserman said."
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
