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<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/stark09182006.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/stark09182006.html</a><br><br>
(and one of the darlings of shows like Democracy Now
</font><font size=1>
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/14/1351255&mode=thread&tid=25
</font><font size=3>and the KPFA News)<br><br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>September 18,
2006<br><br>
</font><h1><font size=5><b>The Original Texacutioner<br><br>
<br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">
Adios Ann
Richards</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5>By
MIKE STARK and JIM BILLINGTON<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">I</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>n the end, it's fitting that Bill Clinton
would eulogize Texas ex-Governor Ann Richards for the "big
things" she accomplished. Executing 49 people, including two
juveniles and two mentally disabled prisoners certainly is
"big." Clinton only executed three people as Governor of
Arkansas.<br><br>
Of course, next to George W. Bush, who more than tripled Richards'
numbers at 152 kills, everyone looks like a lightweight. That's probably
why many liberal commentators bent over backwards to praise the recently
deceased ex-Texas Governor as a civil rights pioneer and progressive.
Richards, who lost her job as Texas Governor in 1994 to GW, appears as
the archetypal hero of the "anybody but Bush" crowd. After all,
her place in that national political spotlight came after her "poor
George" speech when she famously skewered then-President George Bush
Sr. as having a "silver foot" in his mouth.<br><br>
In an era when the only fortitude Democrats demonstrate is their
willingness to defy their political base and slavishly prop-up the
right's agenda, the myth of a larger-than-life Texan who sacrificed her
political career to stand up for her ideals is appealing.<br><br>
But Richards's civil rights credentials crumble when you consider the
outrageous and obvious racial-bias of Texas' death row. Of the 49
executions she allowed, over half were minority prisoners -- even as
non-whites made up less than 25% of the population. While Blacks made up
approximately 25% of murder victims annually, less than 4% of those
executed were accused of killing Blacks. 87% the executed involved those
accused of killing whites. Texas's death row was (and continues to be) so
bad that in 1994, the Death Penalty Information Center's Richard Dieter
described the situation as "in crisis."<br><br>
Richards' 1990-94 stint as Governor spans an era when Democrats eagerly
shed progressive positions in a rush to appeal to the right. One of the
first "liberal" positions to be jettisoned was opposition to
the death penalty. Leading the way was 1992 presidential candidate Bill
Clinton, who left the campaign trail to mug in front of cameras as he
oversaw the execution of mentally disabled Ricky Ray Rector. This display
set the stage for the massive increase in executions during the Clinton
years that would peak in 1999 with 98 executions nationally in a single
year. Clinton and the Democratic Leadership Council gave a lead to
Democrats nationwide who drew all the wrong lessons from Bush Sr.'s
successful race-baiting Willy Horton attacks ads and the meek ineffectual
response to these challenges by Democratic challenger, Dukakis, in
1988.<br><br>
Which brings us back to Richards. Her famously sharp tongue was still
when it came to the death penalty. When asked would she support a death
penalty abolition bill if it passed the Texas legislature, her sarcastic
"I would faint" response betrayed indifference. When asked
directly on the campaign trail about her views, she said, "I will
uphold the laws of the State of Texas." Considering the racial and
class composition of the Texas killing machine -- this commitment to the
law sounds more George Wallace than MLK Jr.<br><br>
In 1992, an opportunity to take a stand for justice came with juvenile
death row prisoner Johnny Frank Garrett. Garrett was severely mentally
impaired individual described as chronically psychotic and brain-damaged.
His life was such a horror show that one mental health expert described
Garrett as "one of the most virulent histories of abuse and
neglect...I have encountered in 28 years of practice." <br><br>
According to Amnesty International: <br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>"As a youth, Garrett was raped by his stepfather, who then hired
him to another man for sex. From the age of 14 he was forced to perform
bizarre sexual acts and participate in pornographic homosexual films. He
was first introduced to alcohol and other drugs by members of his family
at the age of ten and subsequently indulged in serious substance abuse
involving brain-damaging substances such as paint-thinner and
amphetamines. Garrett was regularly beaten and on one occasion was put
upon the burner of a stove, resulting in severe scarring."<br><br>
</dl>Richards, was called on by human rights groups all over the world to
halt the execution, but instead she meekly weighed in to temporarily
delay the execution and then deferred to the Governor appointed Texas
Board of Pardons and Parole and allowed it proceed on February 11, 1992.
To Richards standing up for Garrett just wasn't worth the
effort.<br><br>
That same year, the US Supreme Court infamously blocked Texas death row
prisoner Leonel Herrera's request from presenting newly-discovered
evidence he claimed proved another man was responsible for the murder.
Herrera had exhausted his appeals and no legal remedy was available for
presenting the new evidence. The Supreme Court ruled innocence was not
itself grounds for appeal. <br><br>
Again, according to Amnesty International,<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>"Shortly before Herrera's execution date, a group of prominent
Texas attorneys and former judges called on Governor Ann Richards to
develop mechanisms so that condemned prisoners alleging miscarriages of
justice would receive full and fair clemency hearings. The only response
from the governor's office was a promise to 'study' the group's
recommendations."<br><br>
</dl>Leonel Herrera was executed on May 12, 1993. Herrera's last words
were: "I am innocent, innocent, innocent. Something terribly wrong
is happening here tonight."<br><br>
Months later, juvenile offender Curtis Harris was executed in July 1993.
There was strong evidence of racial bias in the selection of the jury in
Harris' case and his court-appointed attorney failed to present evidence
of his mental disabilities and abusive childhood. Again, Richards did
nothing.<br><br>
In fact, during her time occupying the highest office in the Texas she
did nothing to stop the death machine in Texas. To her, political
expediency meant more than the lives of innocents, minorities, the
mentally disabled, or juveniles.<br><br>
Ann Richards support for incredibly barbaric and racist Texas death
penalty should lay to rest any notion that she deservers to be called a
progressive. Far from being a wistful alternative to GW Bush that
progressives pine for, by paving the road for the slaughter to follow,
her legacy is not only the dead men she executed, but it is also the 152
men and women GW Bush, her so-called nemesis, executed.<br><br>
Goodbye Anne and good luck. Because if there's a heaven, it's a good bet
Johnny Frank Garrett, Leonel Herrera, and Curtis Harris have been bending
St. Peter's ear for quite some time now.<br><br>
Mike Stark</b> is a national board member of the Campaign to End the
Death Penalty and a regular contributor to the New Abolitionist, the
newsletter of the <a href="http://www.nodeathpenalty.org/">Campaign to
End the Death Penalty</a>. <br><br>
Jim Bullington</b> is prison-literacy activist in Denver, Colorado . He
is a native Texan and a member of the Campaign to End the Death
Penalty.<br><br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
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