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Kenneth Foster: Texas: Governor Commutes Death Sentence

By Jeralyn, Section Death Penalty
Posted on Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 01:46:00 PM EST
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Bump and Update: Texas Governor Rick Perry has commuted Kenneth Foster's death sentence.

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Just in... The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has recommended a stay of execution for Kenneth Foster.

Texas Governor Perry will make the final decision before 6 pm tonight.

Send an e-letter to Gov. Perry now. Background on the case is available here.

More....

Kenneth Foster didn't kill anyone. It is wrong for the state to kill him.

For more, check out NCADP and Capital Defense Weekly.

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    Kenneth Foster: Texas: Governor Commutes Death Sentence | 9 comments (9 topical)

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    Not a recommendation for stay (none / 0) (#1)
    by caramel on Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 11:44:59 AM EST
    The board's recommendation is for commutation, not for a stay. A stay will never save him because of the law of parties...

    Gov. Perry (none / 0) (#2)
    by mindfulmission on Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 12:24:13 PM EST
    It is being reported by NPR and the Campaign to End the Death Penalty that Gov. Perry WILL grant clemency to Foster!!!!

    Sentence Commuted (none / 0) (#3)
    by txpublicdefender on Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 12:30:08 PM EST
    Gov. Perry commuted his sentence to life.

    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5095416.html

    Lets show some respect (none / 0) (#4)
    by Jgarza on Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 12:40:48 PM EST
    I'm both a resident of Texas, and opposed to the death penalty.  This is a serious issue.  Please don't trivialize it with with head lines that include terms like Texacution.  This neither funny nor witty and frankly brings nothing to this discussion.  Moreover, turning the death penalty into a Texas issues, allows people to turn a state pride issue.  Lastly i would think the writers of a website that regularly deletes comments that are too critical of the writer would refrain from using tasteless headlines.

    you sort of have a point here, but (none / 0) (#5)
    by scribe on Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 01:18:01 PM EST
    I think the point TL was making in using that headline was to highlight the egregiously aggressive use of capital punishment as a panacea for all ills that Texans might perceive to exist in their society, not the least of which is their politicians' lust for the blood of those deemed criminals.  

    Texas Justice has earned a bad reputation.  There have been too many executions, too many innocents discovered on the conveyor belt to the Texas death house, too many Texas judges (state and federal) disobeying the mandates of the US Supreme Court in captial cases, too much prosecutorial chicanery and system-driven defense ineptitude (e.g., sleepy defense counsel paid $1k or so to defend) and too much Governor's office giggling over pleas for mercy to give Texas the benefit of the doubt any more.

    And, FWIW, my experience with Texas and Texans tells me they need nothing to get a "state pride" thing going on.  Given the performance their state shows the world on a daily basis and comparing that to their boosterism tells me nothing good about Texas.

    At least Governor Perry has shown a modicum of sense by commuting the death sentence today.

    If the sort of outcry and, frankly, verbal abuse against Texas you're complaining about is what it takes to have Texans compel their criminal justice system to enter the civilized world, so be it.  

    Parent

    You have a point, but... (none / 0) (#7)
    by 1980Ford on Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 03:41:40 PM EST
    Vengeance is Mom's

    News: Meet Dianne Clements, the soccer mom who has done as much as anyone to ensure that Texas' killing chamber remains the nation's busiest.

    Parent

    ah, Jgarza (none / 0) (#6)
    by cpinva on Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 02:08:57 PM EST
    methinks thou dost protest too much! given the historic bloodlust demonstrated by texas, and the fact that it leads the pack in executions in this country, the term "texecution" is not without merit. that it offends you is, well, too bad.

    tell you what i'll do, to salve your sensitive nature, since my own commonwealth is trying vigorously to catch up with texas, i will start refering to them as "virginiacutions". there, feeling better now?

    granted, it doesn't slide off the tongue quite as smoothly as "texecution", but it's the best i could do on short notice.

    Matter of fact story (none / 0) (#9)
    by Jgarza on Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 04:37:02 PM EST
    I just generally think that stories like this are most powerful when told in a matter of fact way.  This one is particularly powerful in illustrating how wrong the Texas death penalty policy is(and i agree that Texas is the wrongest of them all). I'm really glad to see this post here, and hope to see more death penalty posts.

    Parent
    Somewhere in Texas (none / 0) (#8)
    by scarshapedstar on Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 04:29:57 PM EST
    lives a better governor than George W. Bush.

    Kenneth Foster: Texas: Governor Commutes Death Sentence | 9 comments (9 topical)

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