The Death Penalty

A pardon has been granted to relatives of Tom Joyner, the radio host, who were electrocuted in 1913. What difference does it make now? A lot.

There's a famous quote that those who don't learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. Unless we look at what happened and why, we will have learned nothing.

Right now, the governor of Texas has stopped an official inquiry into whether a person whose three young children died in a fire was guilty of intentionally starting the fire that killed his children. I don't know, of course, but evidence appears to show that several experts looking at the case with new scientific methods not available in the 1980s have concluded that the fire was not intentionally set.

If I could speak to the governor of Texas, I would say to let the investigation continue and let the findings be released to the public. Even if an innocent man was killed by the Texas legal system. Especially if an innocent man was killed by the Texas legal system (to paraphrase a line from the movie Gandhi).

He may fear that the committee's findings would be detrimental to his re-election campaign, specifically that he knew this new information before deciding not to stop the execution. I can't speak with certainty, but I wouldn't be surprised if overall, political expediency included, releasing all the information about the case is better than not releasing it.  ¶ 3:07 PM