The year draws to a close. It has been a rough death penalty year because there have been 55 executions in this nation thus far—twenty-three of them in the State of Texas alone. Ohio became the first state to employ a one drug method of execution.

            The one bright spot in the midst of this state-imposed mayhem is that the imposition of the death sentence has declined nationwide in recent years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Richard Dieter, Director of the DPIC, explains the reason for the decline: “I think it’s the mistakes” that have become a fixture in the death penalty system. “I think it’s the awareness jurors have that they might learn something five or 10 years later that would change their opinion, and they just don’t know. There are just so many cases where allegedly guilty people have been freed. People are just somewhat hesitant about using the death penalty. Prosecutors know that, and so they’re seeking less.”

            The Texas Judiciary System also reported significant declines in the imposition of the death sentence across the state, including Harris County. Use of the death sentence has steadily declined in Texas since fiscal year 1999-2000 when jurors returned an average of 34 death sentences a year. Fiscal year 2008-09 jurors returned just 15 death sentences in the state, and the number dipped to an incredible low of just 3 in fiscal 2006-07.

            Harris County, historically the epicenter of the death sentence in Texas, experienced a remarkable decline as well, with only 2 death sentences being returned in fiscal 2008-09 as compared to 16 in fiscal year 1995-96. Since fiscal year 2005-06, there have been just 9 death sentences returned by Harris County juries.

            Current Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos recently poured cold water over these encouraging figures by telling the Houston Chronicle than her office will probably try more capital cases in 2010 than it did in 2009. “This is something that’s a very solemn duty,” Lykos told the newspaper about her responsibility to seek a death sentence, “and it shouldn’t be undertaken lightly. I think unfortunately, in other states, some have been cavalier. But the decision should not be made on cost—the decision should rise and fall on the case itself and how heinous the offense is.”

            Lykos defied all bounds of logic with her criticism of other states being “cavalier” in deciding to seek the death sentence. The State of Texas, and especially Harris County, has no right to criticize any other state about the death sentence. Texas not only leads the nation in DNA exonerations but it stands out as the leader in criminal convictions being obtained through perjured testimony, suppression of exculpatory evidence, fabricated or manipulated forensic evidence, mistaken identification, and litany of other prosecutorial misconducts—especially in Harris County.

            Imposition of the death sentence is declining nationwide precisely because of the death penalty conduct of the State of Texas. People do not trust the death penalty system any longer. The State of Texas, with all its wrongful convictions and overwhelming evidence that it has executed an innocent man (Cameron Todd Willingham), has fueled a distrust of the death penalty. While the overwhelming majority of the state’s citizenry still possess the “hang ‘em high” mentality, responsible jurors who show up for jury duty in capital cases are becoming less likely to take that “kill ‘em all and let God sort it out” mentality into jury room for life and death decision-making.

            It’s the height of official irresponsibility for Lykos to say costs should not factor in to the decision-making process about whether to seek a death sentence. Costs is a harsh but necessary reality in the death penalty arena, especially now that the State of Texas has a life without parole sentence as an alternative.

            Still, there is reason to hope. The death penalty is losing its appeal. Perhaps there is a Santa Claus afterall.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6776420.html