TEXAS DEMOCRATIC PARTY REFORMS; DALLAS MORNING NEWS WADES IN; NOTES COURTS HAVE GOT IT "AWFULLY WRONG" IN SEVERAL CASES;

"One reform has particular resonance for Dallas County, which holds the nation's record of 20 DNA-proven exonerations of innocent people sent to prison (all in non-capital cases).

The Democrats' platform supports testing of "any possibly exculpatory DNA evidence to ensure guilt or innocence." In light of what we know today about the fallibility of the justice system, the right to DNA testing is painfully obvious, yet it's not something Texas courts guarantee.

One Texas death row inmate, Hank Skinner, came within an hour of execution in March before the U.S. Supreme Court halted it over the question of access to DNA tests. Skinner was convicted in 1995 in a triple slaying in the Panhandle, but a long list of physical evidence – including hair found in one victim's hand – had never been subjected to DNA tests."

EDITORIAL: DALLAS MORNING NEWS;

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"How much caution is too much when it comes to exercising the power of life and death in the name of the state?,"the Dallas Morning News editorial published earlier today under the heading, "Dems' caution over capital punishment," begins.

"Consider that the courts have gotten it wrong – awfully wrong – in several cases," the editorial continues.

"Men have walked off death row because they were able to show bogus charges, thin evidence, junk forensic work or shaky witnesses. It's still an open question whether an innocent person has died on the executioner's gurney.

A list of reforms to help safeguard against that possibility was included in the platform adopted last week by the Texas Democratic Party. Most should make sense even to Texans who support capital punishment but who are troubled by the ghastly thought of taking a life in error.

One reform has particular resonance for Dallas County, which holds the nation's record of 20 DNA-proven exonerations of innocent people sent to prison (all in non-capital cases).

The Democrats' platform supports testing of "any possibly exculpatory DNA evidence to ensure guilt or innocence." In light of what we know today about the fallibility of the justice system, the right to DNA testing is painfully obvious, yet it's not something Texas courts guarantee.

One Texas death row inmate, Hank Skinner, came within an hour of execution in March before the U.S. Supreme Court halted it over the question of access to DNA tests. Skinner was convicted in 1995 in a triple slaying in the Panhandle, but a long list of physical evidence – including hair found in one victim's hand – had never been subjected to DNA tests.

It's the right amount of caution to guarantee a condemned prisoner access to up-to-date DNA analysis.

A separate common-sense proposal in the Democrats' platform would assure consideration of "all reasonably certain scientific or factual evidence that has become known since the trial." That provision might have applied in the infamous case of Cameron Todd Willingham of Corsicana, executed in 2004 on a triple arson-murder conviction that had been drawn into question by updated forensic techniques.

The Democrats' platform doesn't advocate an end to capital punishment but asserts that "Texans must be assured that it is fairly administered." To accomplish that, the state party calls to establish a Capital Punishment Commission to study the death penalty system, and Democrats back a moratorium on executions until the study is complete.

That's not as far-reaching a move as this newspaper advocates; we would end executions altogether because of grave doubts that the justice system ever can guarantee an evenly administered, error-free application of the death penalty.

Short of abolition, a moratorium to allow thorough analysis of the state's justice system would be a prudent step.

Polls have shown that a strong majority of Texans supports the use of capital punishment as appropriate punishment and deterrent to murder. We'd like to think they'd be shaken if the state got it wrong in any of the 460 executions carried out in Huntsville since reinstatement in 1982.

A moratorium and other reforms adopted in the Democrats' state platform may help prevent a fatal error."

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Democrats' proposed reforms

• Give the governor authority to grant clemency without a recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Paroles.

• Require the board to meet and vote publicly in deciding a reprieve request.

• Reform the "law of parties," which permits a death sentence for an accomplice and life sentence for a triggerman.

• Create a state office of public defender to ensure equal access to competent appeals attorneys.

• Determine before trial whether a murder suspect is mentally retarded, instead of giving the job to the jury that weighs guilt and innocence.

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The editorial can be found at:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-death_30edi.State.Edition1.769e5c.html

Harold Levy; hlevy15@gmail.com;