"As citizens of Texas, we are also both profoundly sad and outraged at what we've learned from these DNA results and from the documents that emerged from this process.
In this case, Gov. Bush did not get the essential information about Claude Jones' appeal that he should have had before making his fatal decision. In the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, convicted and executed based on faulty arson forensics, Gov. Rick Perry either did not know about expert reports debunking the evidence against, or he ignored them. In 2007, in the case of Michael Richard, Judge Sharon Keller closed her court at 5 p.m. and blocked his attorneys from filing a last-minute appeal.
Even those who support the death penalty should be deeply concerned about this pattern. The most notorious case is Willingham's, of course. But as we see today, it's not the only case where Texas has executed someone on the basis of faulty evidence."
BOB MOSER: THE TEXAS OBSERVER; "Bob Moser has been editor since October 2008. A native North Carolinian, he edited the Independent Weekly before being named a Knight Fellow at Stanford University. Bob has been a senior writer for the Southern Poverty Law Center and a senior editor at The Nation. He's the author of Blue Dixie: Awakening the South's Democratic Majority."
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"On Friday morning in Houston, I spoke at a news conference discussing the upshot of the Observer's successful lawsuit to preserve and test DNA evidence that might have posthumously exonerated Claude Jones, who was executed on Dec. 7, 2000," Bob Moser's November 12, 2010 Texas Observer commentary begins, under the heading, "Blood on Our Hands: Why the Jones Case Matters: What the DNA results tell Texas citizens—and journalists."
"Former Gov. Mark White, Innocence Project director Barry Scheck, and attorneys from Mayer Brown, the firm that won the suit, also addressed the media along with Jones' son, Duane," the commentary continues.
"As Dave Mann has reported, the DNA evidence didn't prove Jones' innocence—but it did show that he was convicted, and executed, based on false evidence. And documents dredged up by the lawsuit showed that Gov. George W. Bush, making his last decision on an execution in Texas, was not informed that Jones was requesting DNA testing that might exonerate him.
Watch Dave Mann's interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow
As Gov. White said, "a mere memo written by a subordinate member of Bush's staff made this life-and-death decision."
With two Texas executions—Jones' and Cameron Todd Willingham's—now known to have been based on false forensic evidence and mishandled by the state, every citizens' conscience should be shaken to the core, no matter their opinion on the death penalty. We can all agree, surely, that the highest punishment should be reserved for those who are guilty beyond the shadow of a doubt. In Texas, we now know, that fundamental moral and ethical standard has not applied.
Here's what I had to say this morning about what the case means, for Texas citizens and for Texas journalists:
It's a bit unusual for me to be on this side of a press conference. And it might be unusual for a media outlet to be co-plaintiff in a lawsuit like this one. We don't go around suing people much; we're too busy steering clear of being sued ourselves. But for the Observer, this was a critically important case of the public's right to know. That's a right that journalists fight for every day—and here in Texas, as most of you know, it can be one hell of a fight.
But there was more than a First Amendment principle at stake in the case of Claude Jones: The people of Texas had a right to know whether they had blood on their hands—whether they had been responsible, together, for the murder of an innocent man.
In the past few years, Texans have learned some very disturbing truths about the way their state carries out its most solemn duty, administering the death penalty. That's been thanks in small part to the efforts of journalists in publications as far-flung as the Observer and the Chicago Tribune and The New Yorker, but also to criminal-justice activists like the Innocence Project, truth-seekers like Duane Jones, truth-tellers like Gov. White, and socially conscious attorneys like those at Mayer Brown. That's what it takes. And we were proud to be on this team.
As citizens of Texas, we are also both profoundly sad and outraged at what we've learned from these DNA results and from the documents that emerged from this process.
In this case, Gov. Bush did not get the essential information about Claude Jones' appeal that he should have had before making his fatal decision. In the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, convicted and executed based on faulty arson forensics, Gov. Rick Perry either did not know about expert reports debunking the evidence against, or he ignored them. In 2007, in the case of Michael Richard, Judge Sharon Keller closed her court at 5 p.m. and blocked his attorneys from filing a last-minute appeal.
Even those who support the death penalty should be deeply concerned about this pattern. The most notorious case is Willingham's, of course. But as we see today, it's not the only case where Texas has executed someone on the basis of faulty evidence.
Executing an innocent person is the worst-case scenario, of course. But as The Observer has reported in 2009 and 2010, there are also hundreds of Texans in prison because they were convicted by false arson forensics http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/fire-and-innocence or faulty blood-spatter analysis http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/a-bloody-injustice. DNA is now reliable, but other forensic evidence continues to be employed in faulty ways and to convict innocent Texans.
The people of Texas needed to know whether Claude Jones was indeed guilty beyond the shadow of a doubt. Now we know that he was not.
Given what we know now, it's clear how important it was that the people of Texas had access to this information. We now know more about the workings, and shortcomings, of our criminal-justice system. And what we know is deeply unsettling.
Now it's our collective responsibility to make sure that what happened to Willingham and Jones cannot happen again. And it's Texas journalists' responsibility to continue ferreting out the hard-won truth about the injustices that have already occurred."
The commentary can be found at:
http://www.texasobserver.org/purpletexas/blood-on-our-hands-why-the-jones-case-matters
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
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