Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Political debates on death penalty focused on innocence, not cost

Several recent death-penalty related items merit Grits readers' attention:

First, NPR's program Fresh Air yesterday aired a lengthy interview with Houston attorney David Dow, who has written a new, much-praised book titled Autobiography of an Execution, which has received wide critical praise.

Then last night, the death penalty came up as a source of disagreement in the Democratic Governor's candidate debate, reports the Dallas News:

The hourlong debate was calm, with few direct exchanges and plenty of agreement between the two candidates. But it laid bare a number of disagreements between the two that hadn't been seen before in a campaign that has seen most of the energy on the GOP side.

White opposed placing a moratorium on executions and on natural-gas drilling in urban North Texas' shale belt, while Shami said justice and public health require both.

Shami said he supports capital punishment, "if we are 110 percent certain" of guilt. But he said recent exonerations, many based on DNA testing, require a pause so that cases can be reviewed.

"We have killed lots of innocent people in the state of Texas," Shami said – a claim that hasn't been definitively proven.

White, though, said a moratorium on executions would be too broad. "That would disrespect the juries and the victims," he said.

White acknowledged the system has problems, but said it generally works pretty well. He said he rejects "one-size-fits-all" solutions in this and other parts of government.

Meanwhile, coverage of Sunday's Sarah Palin rally in Houston on behalf of Governor Rick Perry's reelection campaign revealed fault lines in one family over the GOP primary based on the Todd Willingham case. This anecdote caught my eye at the end of the story:

Judith Simon of Katy, who wore a pink "Palin Power" T-shirt, said she finds the former governor authentic. "When I listen to Sarah Palin, I hear truth and sincerity coming through her. When you're used to hearing the truth, you recognize the truth."

Simon also said she supports Perry. But her husband, James, a fellow Palin fan, said he would not back Perry because he believes Perry allowed the state to execute an innocent man.

He was referring to Cameron Todd Willingham, whom the state put to death in 2004 for starting a house fire that killed his wife and children. An arson expert found that the investigation that led to Willingham's conviction was deeply flawed.

Asked whom he would support in the primary, James Simon said, "How do I say this politely? None of your business."

His sentiments suggested that some may have turned out to support Palin more than Perry.

Of course, that's just one family, but it suggests that Sen. Kay Hutchison may have so far underplayed the Willingham arson case as a GOP primary wedge issue.

However, seldom do political debates over the death penalty reach what may be the biggest practical hurdle to wider use of capital punishment - that it simply costs taxpayers' too much to implement. According to a report last week from the Amarillo Globe-News:
More prosecutors are deciding not to seek the death penalty in cases where it's an option, two local district attorneys said after two cases in which pursuing the ultimate punishment was an option.

"That's been the trend for probably the last decade and probably will continue to be a trend," Randall County Criminal District Attorney James Farren said.

Many prosecutors weigh the lack of certainty in securing a conviction against the high cost of litigation as reasons for not seeking the death penalty when available.

In rural Gray County, reports the Globe News, the District Attorney "spent more than $750,000 - that was about 10 percent of Gray County's annual budget - to bring [a capital defendant] to trial. The cost of the trial was one reason county commissioners were forced to raise taxes and withhold employee raises last year." Another Panhandle DA observed that "many rural counties might bankrupt themselves if they try capital cases."

When Texas voters are asked by pollsters if they support the death penalty, they do so in overwhelming numbers. But I wonder if there isn't a somewhat more pedestrian question that might better gauge real-world support for capital punishment: Would you be willing to pay higher property taxes to implement the death penalty more often in your county? In Gray County that was an explicit choice faced by local prosecutors, who made a charging decision that's directly responsible for higher taxes and lower pay for county employees. I'd like to see that aspect of the issue discussed more by pols seeking our votes at all levels, but it's not how the debate is usually framed.

21 comments:

  1. Would you be willing to pay higher property taxes to implement the death penalty more often in your county? In Gray County that was an explicit choice faced by local prosecutors, who made a charging decision that's directly responsible for higher taxes and lower pay for county employees. I'd like to see that aspect of the issue discussed more by pols seeking our votes at all levels, but it's not how the debate is usually framed.

    Do you really think that is the reason these county or any othercounty employees are paid the way they are?

    Young man, you need to start examining some of the road and bridge fund accounts of counties statewide. Road and bridge funds, which contain many dollars, are seperate of the general fund and cannot be used for pay raises but instead for commissioner courts wish lists. That's the real shame.

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  2. Actually, 10:16, criminal justice spending (of all types - jail, Sheriff, DA, constables, probation, courts, etc.) accounts for the majority of county budgets. So when one case takes up 10% of the budget in a single year, they're getting a lot less bang for the buck in every respect than they would spending the same money on roads, bridges, etc., which people actually use.

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  3. Good grief Scott. I live in rural NE Texas in what I believe is the
    5th smallest county in Texas.

    We have one of the fewest miles of county road systems in the state but four fully paid commissioners each with their own county barns and maintenance equipment.

    This idea of commissioners being road men is an old concept. Some of these counties, including the one I live in, should consider the option of the unit system and hire one person to oversee the county road system, and reduce the pay of these so called "road commissioners" along with their benefits package.

    We have gotten to the point where the citizens no longer govern themselves and do not demand change in some of these local government offices that at one time probably served a useful purpose but the duties are now antiquated.

    Perhaps Gray County should consider the same.

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  4. You wrote:

    Of course, that's just one family, but it suggests that Sen. Kay Hutchison may have so far underplayed the Willingham arson case as a GOP primary wedge issue.
    __________________

    Where would Hutchison go with that if she tried? Once she acknowledge Willingham's possible innocence, how does she respond? Call for a moratorium on executions? Argue for stronger resources for appeals?

    Not in a Republican primary, I'm thinkin'.

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  5. In Gray County that was an explicit choice faced by local prosecutors, who made a charging decision that's directly responsible for higher taxes and lower pay for county employees.

    Your arguement does not hold water. The county of Gray's tax rate is only 0.440580 and pales in comparison to most of the other entity tax rates in that county.


    Entity Tax Rate
    Pampa ISD 1.3688
    City of Pampa 0..62693
    Gray County 0.440580
    Road 0.040450
    Water Dist. 0.0089
    Grandview ISD .97
    Lefors ISD 1.34
    City of Lefors 0.25
    McLean ISD 1.22
    City of Mclean .65
    Ft Elliott CISD .8067
    Groom ISD 1.25
    Miami ISD 1.07
    Wheeler ISD 1.17
    White Deer ISD 1.144
    Clarendon College .05

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  6. Levi King killed 3 people in Gray County and as I undertsnad it was serving a life sentence in Missouri for murder(s)there.

    In all, he killed 6 people. What kind of sentence do you think he should have gotten?


    Oct 4, 2007

    PAMPA, Texas -- Investigators here want to know if a man charged with two murders in southwest Missouri is responsible for four killings here. A husband, his pregnant wife and their son were shot to death in their rural farmhouse in the Texas panhandle on Sept. 30.

    Levi King, who lives near Anderson, Mo., faces two counts of first-degree murder in McDonald County, Mo. Investigators there believe the 23-year-old man robbed and killed Orlie and Dawn McCool on Sept. 29 and then fled to Mexico in the McCools’ truck. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested King in El Paso as he tried to re-enter the United States on the night of Sept. 30.

    The daughter of Brian and Michell Conrad called the police about the shootings of her parents and brother early on Sept. 30. A nametag with Brian Conrad’s name was in the McCools’ truck when King was arrested. The bullets that killed the Conrads are the same caliber as a gun that investigators think King stole from his father’s home before he killed the McCools.

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  7. 3:30 - it's just not my argument, the statement about Gray County's taxes increasing 10% because of a single DP case came from the reporter at the Amarillo Globe News. What's more, the article is chock full of PROSECUTORS saying the death penalty is too expensive for rural counties. Don't blame the messenger.

    4:52, given that you say King was already serving a life sentence, he probably wasn't a threat to anybody in Texas anytime soon, even if they'd gone for a non-capital sentence. If folks in Gray County don't mind 10% higher taxes and putting off pay hikes for county employees, then great. They're the ones who must live with the tradeoff. But from the discussion in the Globe News, some rural prosecutors are beginning to look at such cost benefit analyses and conclude the public safety bang isn't worth the buck.

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  8. Yeah, King was already serving a life sentence for murder in MO. He was extradited to TX for the murders in Gray County; change of venue to Lubbock. Prosecutors sought, but didn't get the death penalty for the Gray County murders. So Gray County winds up paying for the capital prosecution and gets a life w/o parole instead. So if King ever becomes eligible for parole in MO, he will face life w/o parole in TX. Gray County paid a lot for this.

    Incidentally, the Gray County figures provided by anon 3:30 contains a tax rate for Wheeler ISD, which is in Wheeler County, and for Clarendon College, which is in Donley County. Do Gray countians pay taxes for institutions in Wheeler and Donley? Possibly some Gray County kids go to Wheeler to school, and Gray helps pick up the tab? Likewise for Clarendon College? Not saying its not so, but strikes me as passing strange.

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  9. anon 4:52 "What kind of sentence do you think he should have gotten?" Well, it's really not a question of what kind of sentence he should have gotten, but what he did get, which was life w/o parole, but got life w/o parole, which won't kick in unless/until he has served his sentence in MO, and which probably could have been gotten with a plea bargain. Gray County paid for a capital trial, but didn't get it.

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  10. anon 10:16, Grits is to the age he probably considers being addressed as "young man" a compliment!

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  11. The expense of capital punishment trials has greatly increased and it is something that now has to be taken into account, particularly in counties with small tax bases. Whatever meaning the death penalty has is clearly diminishing and has probably already disappeared completely in some areas. Obviously if another capital murder arises soon in Gray County it may be treated differently, merely because of the cost relative to everything else Gray County citizens want.

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  12. Do Gray countians pay taxes for institutions in Wheeler and Donley? Possibly some Gray County kids go to Wheeler to school, and Gray helps pick up the tab? Likewise for Clarendon College? Not saying its not so, but strikes me as passing strange.

    Independent school district lines often do not follow county boundary lines.

    Regarding community colleges, I live in Morris County but pay taxes for NE TX Community College which is physically located in Titus County. Taxes on NETCC are paid by residents from Morris, Titus and Camp counties.

    So yes, it is possible.

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  13. “Switzer spent more than $750,000 - that was about 10 percent of Gray County's annual budget - to bring King to trial. The cost of the trial was one reason county commissioners were forced to raise taxes and withhold employee raises last year.”

    A 10% tax increase as a result of this decision to seek the death penalty.

    I took the liberty to check the truthfulness of this article and found the following:
    The Gray County homicide occurred on September 30, 2005. The county tax rate then was 0.488926. It is interesting to note that prior to the murder the county tax rate was as high as 0.522267 in 2003 and 0.488926 in 2004.

    How could there have been a tax increase of 10% if the tax rate stayed the same in 2005, the year of the murders, as it was the previous year in 2004. Further, the tax rate fell in 2006 to 0.445623, rose to 0.47326 in 2007 and fell to 0.418082.

    Source Texas Total County Property Tax Rates 1991 - 2008
    The County Information Project
    Data courtesy of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts

    And are we to believ the voters of this county would not have called for a rollback election had their taxes increased 10%?

    Whatever happened to responsible journalism and investigative reporting? Besides being the messenger, what say you Scott?

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  14. Anon 8:54 and Grits--Amarillo Globe News Reporting is often misleading or off the mark.

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  15. ckikerintulia..........

    Not to mention words from the mouth of politicians, as was the case from a county commissioner. Of course if in fact he said it.

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  16. Thanks for the extra legwork 8:58. If you don't mind, next time provide your links when you do that so others can replicate your research.

    I'm guessing you'd have to calculate the "effective rate" to get to the Globe-News' numbers. The per-acreage rate you quoted is then applied to property values - which are separately assessed and which fluctuate annually - to get the total taxes paid.

    My reading of the Globe News is that Gray County taxes went up 10%, as in the actual total amount of dollars paid by taxpayers. The rate you've given us doesn't allow calculation of actual payments by taxpayers - that's just one factor.

    Again, it was Gray County officials who told the Globe News reporter that figure - don't blame the messenger.

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  17. Charles, lots of reporting is often "off the mark," so I'm happy to see someone fact checking.

    OTOH, I can't see why anybody in Gray County would have told the reporter they'd increased taxes that much when they didn't. There's no obvious self-interested reason for them to do so, and many reasons for them to downplay tax hikes.

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  18. Hope all of the link appears

    http://www.county.org/resources/countydata/products/taxrates/index.html

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  19. All of the link did not appear. Let me try again. If it does not appear, go to your search engine and type in the following:

    Texas Total County Property Tax Rates 1991-2008

    http://www.county.org/resources/countydata/products/taxrates/index.html

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  20. ($750,000.)
    Will someone take a time out from the usual dumb s--t and show us what the money was spent on?

    How much did the defense team make? How much does it cost per year to incarcerate a murder with life w/o parole? How much to incarcerate a murder per year with a death sentence? As we can clearly see this isn't about Grits, it's about $750,000 & all of the future $750,000 tabs. Thank you.

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  21. Grits, great Q. A. "hell no" there should be an Opt. Out of Clause for those that don't want their tax dollars supporting a punishment that involves killing someone for allegedly killing someone.

    Since that would be too hard to enact, a simple remedy would be to place all alleged murders in the same exact prison units in single cells (with no trustee status.) Eight hours a day devoted to (in cell) education and rehabilitation via two-way CCTV, with one hour of exercise and absolutely no jobs. Certificates of completion earns one visitation rights, phone calls to family only, etc... *We have the money folks so don't go there.

    Why? It opens up civilian positions, which creates jobs; it cuts down inmate-to-inmate interaction, it reduces guard related injuries and deaths, and of course it leaves open the option to exonerate.

    The prisons are already built and stuffed with a mixed bag of druggies, thieves and murders learning a new trade or method from each other. The buses (Blue birds) are in the barn waiting to transport. The unemployed are ready and waiting to do laundry, cook meals, ect....

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