Newspaper opposes executions

April 15, 2007

Newspaper opposes executions

Austin American-Statesman

After reviewing its century-old stance in support of the death penalty, The
Dallas Morning News is calling for the punishment to be banned in Texas.

Mentioning a case in Texas in which an inmate sentenced to death was later
cleared, the newspaper said in an editorial in today's paper that it can no
longer condone the death penalty. The Morning News is the state's largest
newspaper to oppose the death penalty in the state that executes the most
people.

"This board has lost confidence that the state of Texas can guarantee that
every inmate it executes is truly guilty of murder," the paper said. "We do
not believe that any legal system devised by inherently flawed human beings
can determine with moral certainty the guilt of every defendant convicted of
murder."

Citing 13 men in Dallas County who have been released from prison after
years of incarceration for crimes they did not commit and the Tulia
fake-drug scandals, the board says the possibility for error in the justice
system is very real.

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Source : Austin American-Statesman

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/15/15txdigest.html