rockin'robin
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Lawyers are usually thought of as a talkative breed. But prosecutors in an unusual death penalty hearing yesterday told the judge they would "stand mute," declining to participate in the proceeding.
As we reported last week, defense lawyers for John Edward Green -- a Houston man charged with fatally shooting a woman during a 2008 robbery -- asked for the hearing in order to challenge the constitutionality of the death penalty as applied in Texas. They say the Lone Star State's system carries too high a risk of executing innocent people. Despite objections from prosecutors, State District Court Judge Kevin Fine granted the hearing, which kicked off yesterday.
After defense lawyers had questioned an expert witness who runs an anti-death-penalty group, Fine asked prosecutors whether they had questions of their own.
"We still respectfully refuse to participate in the proceeding, your honor," prosecutor Alan Curry replied, according to the AP.
Later, Curry reiterated that stance. "I have been instructed by my boss, the district attorney, to stand mute for the remainder of the proceedings," he said, adding he meant no disrespect to the judge or others involved in the hearing.
Why so silent? In court filings, Curry and fellow prosecutors have argued that the constitutionality of the death penalty is settled case law and should not be ruled on by a district court. They also have tried to have Judge Fine removed from the case, arguing that he's biased against the death penalty.
Earlier this year, Fine granted a defense motion arguing that the death penalty is unconstitutional. But after an outcry led by Texas governor Rick Perry, Fine rescinded his ruling and asked for more evidence to be presented.
Defense lawyers argue that Texas's system lacks safeguards to protect against mistaken eyewitness identification, flawed forensic evidence, bad lawyers and false confessions. They also charge that it's racially biased against blacks.
They point to two high-profile Texas cases in which evidence has recently emerged that the state had put innocent men to death. Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in 2004 after being convicted of killing his daughters in a 1991 house fire. But numerous arson experts have identified serious flaws in the original investigation and concluded that the blaze likely originated accidentally. And Claude Jones was executed in 2000 for killing a liquor store owner, but DNA testing recently showed that a strand of hair that prosecutors said proved his guilt in fact came from the victim.
Defense lawyers are being supported by the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal clinic run by former OJ Simpson defense lawyer Barry Scheck, which uses DNA evidence to exonerate death-row inmates. Scheck and the Innocence Project also worked on the Willingham and Jones cases.
Texas has led the nation in number of executions since the restoration of the death penalty in 1976.
Prosecutors ‘stand mute’ in unusual death-penalty hearing - Yahoo! News
As we reported last week, defense lawyers for John Edward Green -- a Houston man charged with fatally shooting a woman during a 2008 robbery -- asked for the hearing in order to challenge the constitutionality of the death penalty as applied in Texas. They say the Lone Star State's system carries too high a risk of executing innocent people. Despite objections from prosecutors, State District Court Judge Kevin Fine granted the hearing, which kicked off yesterday.
After defense lawyers had questioned an expert witness who runs an anti-death-penalty group, Fine asked prosecutors whether they had questions of their own.
"We still respectfully refuse to participate in the proceeding, your honor," prosecutor Alan Curry replied, according to the AP.
Later, Curry reiterated that stance. "I have been instructed by my boss, the district attorney, to stand mute for the remainder of the proceedings," he said, adding he meant no disrespect to the judge or others involved in the hearing.
Why so silent? In court filings, Curry and fellow prosecutors have argued that the constitutionality of the death penalty is settled case law and should not be ruled on by a district court. They also have tried to have Judge Fine removed from the case, arguing that he's biased against the death penalty.
Earlier this year, Fine granted a defense motion arguing that the death penalty is unconstitutional. But after an outcry led by Texas governor Rick Perry, Fine rescinded his ruling and asked for more evidence to be presented.
Defense lawyers argue that Texas's system lacks safeguards to protect against mistaken eyewitness identification, flawed forensic evidence, bad lawyers and false confessions. They also charge that it's racially biased against blacks.
They point to two high-profile Texas cases in which evidence has recently emerged that the state had put innocent men to death. Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in 2004 after being convicted of killing his daughters in a 1991 house fire. But numerous arson experts have identified serious flaws in the original investigation and concluded that the blaze likely originated accidentally. And Claude Jones was executed in 2000 for killing a liquor store owner, but DNA testing recently showed that a strand of hair that prosecutors said proved his guilt in fact came from the victim.
Defense lawyers are being supported by the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal clinic run by former OJ Simpson defense lawyer Barry Scheck, which uses DNA evidence to exonerate death-row inmates. Scheck and the Innocence Project also worked on the Willingham and Jones cases.
Texas has led the nation in number of executions since the restoration of the death penalty in 1976.
Prosecutors ‘stand mute’ in unusual death-penalty hearing - Yahoo! News