Gary Graham

Gary Graham, James Beathard, Irineo Montoya, Joseph Stanley, Jerry Lee Hogue, David Spence, Odell Barnes.... These are just a few Texans who were executed even though they may have been innocent. In a previous copy of Rolling Stone, the article Bush explained how 135 Texans have been executed during Governor George W. Bushs reign. The author, Erika Casriel, tells that no American governor has put more people to death than G.W. Bush. Ms. Casriel says that out of these 135 executed men some may be guiltless. In this article, Bush comes off as a harsh governor that allows men to go to death row without first receiving a fair trial, all while serving his own political purposes. The fact that Texas does not have a statewide public defenders office with trained and salaried lawyers suggests that a poor person may have an enormous disadvantage during a trial. As stated by a Texas attorney: ...the state puts not a penny into providing representation for indigent defendants. According to the article, the Chicago Tribune did an investigation and found that forty-one of the 135 executed under Bush had an attorney who was later disbarred or suspended. Ms. Casriel explains that defendants are vulnerable to the state of Texas during trial as well as during the appeals process. The article says that after his 1995 election, Bush passed a bill that shortened death row appeals a great deal. Bushs endorsed this bill by saying: Murderers who are sentenced to death will no longer be able to endlessly delay justice. A case that was affected by Bushs new appeal law was one of Jerry Lee Hogue. New technology, such as DNA testing, did not exist in Mr. Hogues initial trial in 1979. An appeal was filed on behalf of Jerry Hogue after Bush took office, the appeal was declined on account that the state felt it was an abuse of the process as redefine...