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November 11, 2007
Study shows Texas is sometimes soft on murderers
As showcased here and in this AP report, the Dallas Morning News has a remarkable new investigative report entitled ""Unequal Justice: Murderers on Probation." This first article in the paper's five-part series starts this way:
The young man fights back during a robbery. Kill him. The neighbor accuses you of stealing gas from his truck. Kill him. The son you never wanted is yelling at your wife again. Kill him. Your punishment in Texas, the nation's death-penalty capital? In each case, it was probation.
In many states, probation is a rare or impossible sentence for murder. But a Dallas Morning News investigation found that it happened in Texas at least 120 times from 2000 through 2006. And Dallas County easily leads the way. It put more than twice as many murderers on probation as it sent to death row. Nine percent of all murder sentences in the county resulted in probation — that's 47 people released to the streets.
November 11, 2007 at 07:17 AM | Permalink
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Comments
This is a good thing. First of all, under texas law, only a jury can give probation to someone charged of murder. So it's not as though judges are doling out these "light" sentences; We The People (of Texas) are. Second, these are always extenuating circumstances cases, nearly always the stereotypical battered wife who finally couldn't take it anymore after 20 years of abuse from her husband and killed him. If a jury gives someone charged with murder probation, it was a case that shouldn't have been brought in the first place. Every single time. Probation in Texas is quite often the compromise between a prosecutor who knows the defenant is innocent and a defendant who is horrified at risking spending the rest of his life in prison.
There are a lot of things wrong with Texas Justice, however, being able to receive probation from the jury for any crime (assuming one is probation-eligible, i.e. no prior felony convictions) is not one of them.
And for every county in Texas willing to show some leniency or compassion when its members are called for jury duty, there is always a Harris County (Houston area), the death penalty capital of the world (where I practice law).
Really makes you think about how probation is practically impossible to receive for any substantive crime in the federal system. As a wise federal judge once told me, you sentence people, not crimes (this judge retired after 30 years on the bench once the federal sentencing guidelines came into effect, taking away all his sentencing discretion). Can anyone give any legitime reason why probation should automatically be off the table for any given crime?
Posted by: bruce | Nov 11, 2007 8:35:08 AM
Totally, comprehensively agree with every word Bruce.
Posted by: peter | Nov 11, 2007 9:28:28 AM
Unfortunatley this article will probably "spark outrage" and cause the law in texas to be changed so that "killers can no longer get probation" (ya know, for the children).
Posted by: bruce | Nov 11, 2007 2:50:19 PM
Bruce, very goog point.
Posted by: EJ | Nov 11, 2007 4:54:29 PM
In a first blush summary of their case studies on Grits, I could identify: "several recurring situations where murderers frequently received probation: a) Prosecutors had weak or circumstantial cases and the defendant may not have done it, b) the defendant was guilty via the "law of parties" but didn't actually kill anyone themselves, c) the defendant was elderly, sick or incapacitated to the point where they were no longer a threat, and d) the victim was a worse person than the murderer and basically "needed killin'," so juries sympathized and gave the defendant another chance. In that sense, the title of the series "Unequal Justice" may be misleading. "Justice Tempered with Mercy" might have been a more appropriate headline."
Also, as of Sept. 1, juries can no longer give probation for murder in Texas, but prosecutors in plea bargains can achieve the same effect by allowing them to take to deferred adjudication.
Posted by: Gritsforbreakfast | Nov 13, 2007 7:51:03 PM
As co-author of the Dallas Morning News series, I wanted to clear up a misperception stated by one of the commenters here. Our series states that juries can no longer give probation as a sentence for murder. However, prosecutors can still offer probation through plea bargains. In fact, this is the most common way murder defendants get probation. And, legal experts say, juries that want to give a murder defendant probation can simply convict on a lesser offense, such as manslaughter, for which probation is still possible.
Posted by: Reese Dunklin | Nov 19, 2007 12:32:42 PM
