Dallas County Capital Murder

[carlson1]

I have searched, but I am unable to find anything that explains the Dallas DA not seeking the death penalty in two different cases.

The first case was the killing of Mesquite Police Officer Richard Houston. That was and should be a death sentence. His murder was found guilty, but sentenced to life rather than death. Why?

The second case was that of ex NBA player Andre Emmett murdered outside of his Old East Dallas home in his car while eating. His was robbed and murdered. Once again a capital murder case. His killer if found guilty will receive an automatic life sentence. He was not a minor at the time of the crime so why not death row?

Thanks
Carl

[LDB415]

Soros democrat DA?

[philip964]

Doesn’t the jury decide the punishment.

I was on a jury pool for a Capital murder.

A robber shot a woman store clerk to death during a robbery.

They asked if I could chose from death to probation if this man was convicted of the murder.

I told the truth and said I could only pick death.

I was excused from serving.

I later read that the jury convicted him and sentenced him to death. They obviously lied when the question was asked.

[carlson1]

Doesn’t the jury decide the punishment.

I was on a jury pool for a Capital murder.

A robber shot a woman store clerk to death during a robbery.

They asked if I could chose from death to probation if this man was convicted of the murder.

I told the truth and said I could only pick death.

I was excused from serving.

I later read that the jury convicted him and sentenced him to death. They obviously lied when the question was asked.

The DA has to seek the Death Penalty. I did speak to Mesquite Police after I posted this thread. The Officer I talked to said that Officer Houston’s family basically was fine either way. He said and very carefully and I quote, “the family was fine with life without parole.”

It almost made me think the DA “talked” then into life without parole. It shouldn’t really be a choice. I know this, thirty years ago if you killed a police officer you fried.


They have no problems convicting John Q Public or Police Officers to the max.

[rtschl]

Liberal DA in Dallas. Agreed that it should be a Capital Murder charge.

Not a choice for the jury for death penalty unless it is charged as Capital Murder and then I think the sentence is only a choice between death and life in prison if convicted, but not sure about that part.

Curious if they could have included lesser charged murder along with Capital Murder and the jury only convicted on murder. That would be one for the legal experts to answer.

The murder trial I was a foreman of many years ago in Dallas County included the charge of murder, voluntary manslaughter, in-voluntary manslaughter, and I think criminally negligent homicide if I remember correctly. Kind of threw all the charges in just in case he was not convicted on the highest charge of murder.

[RPBrown]

IANAL but I think that the "minimum" sentence for Capital Murder is life without parole. It's up to the jury unless a plea deal has been reached

[RoyGBiv]

The DA has to seek the Death Penalty. I did speak to Mesquite Police after I posted this thread. The Officer I talked to said that Officer Houston’s family basically was fine either way. He said and very carefully and I quote, “the family was fine with life without parole.”

It almost made me think the DA “talked” then into life without parole. It shouldn’t really be a choice. I know this, thirty years ago if you killed a police officer you fried.


They have no problems convicting John Q Public or Police Officers to the max.

A few thoughts...

1. The Death Penalty, as a deterrent to crime, is sort of a joke. How many years before all appeals are exhausted?
In Texas, there are 192 inmates on death row for an average, currently, of over 17 years.
Source: https://apps.texastribune.org/death-row/

2. If I was stupid enough to get myself on death row, I'd prefer to go quick, rather than live 17+ years in prison. IMO, life in prison is worse than death. YMMV.

3. I'd like to see a new standard... "Beyond a Shred of Doubt.".... Maybe.... Caught in the act. Or, Clear video. Or, 2 independent, reliable (as in clean records, honest community members) witnesses, 1 of whom is not in law enforcement. Add whatever you think would be a tighter standard than Beyond Reasonable Doubt. People convicted at this level get the needle after 1 appeal. Everyone else gets life.

[Paladin]

To do a death penalty there must be commitment to the case by the DA and they must show that it is likely the murderer would kill again.

I'm not familiar with the cases mentioned so I can't comment more than that.

[03Lightningrocks]

The DA has to seek the Death Penalty. I did speak to Mesquite Police after I posted this thread. The Officer I talked to said that Officer Houston’s family basically was fine either way. He said and very carefully and I quote, “the family was fine with life without parole.”

It almost made me think the DA “talked” then into life without parole. It shouldn’t really be a choice. I know this, thirty years ago if you killed a police officer you fried.


They have no problems convicting John Q Public or Police Officers to the max.

A few thoughts...

1. The Death Penalty, as a deterrent to crime, is sort of a joke. How many years before all appeals are exhausted?
In Texas, there are 192 inmates on death row for an average, currently, of over 17 years.
Source: https://apps.texastribune.org/death-row/

2. If I was stupid enough to get myself on death row, I'd prefer to go quick, rather than live 17+ years in prison. IMO, life in prison is worse than death. YMMV.

3. I'd like to see a new standard... "Beyond a Shred of Doubt.".... Maybe.... Caught in the act. Or, Clear video. Or, 2 independent, reliable (as in clean records, honest community members) witnesses, 1 of whom is not in law enforcement. Add whatever you think would be a tighter standard than Beyond Reasonable Doubt. People convicted at this level get the needle after 1 appeal. Everyone else gets life.

This right here is what makes the death penalty a joke. 17 years of appeals? Just crazy. Should be, cut off their head after a week.

Personally, I would rather be killed than spend 17 years sitting in a 6x10 cell.

[srothstein]

1. The Death Penalty, as a deterrent to crime, is sort of a joke. How many years before all appeals are exhausted?
In Texas, there are 192 inmates on death row for an average, currently, of over 17 years.
Source: https://apps.texastribune.org/death-row/

2. If I was stupid enough to get myself on death row, I'd prefer to go quick, rather than live 17+ years in prison. IMO, life in prison is worse than death. YMMV.

3. I'd like to see a new standard... "Beyond a Shred of Doubt.".... Maybe.... Caught in the act. Or, Clear video. Or, 2 independent, reliable (as in clean records, honest community members) witnesses, 1 of whom is not in law enforcement. Add whatever you think would be a tighter standard than Beyond Reasonable Doubt. People convicted at this level get the needle after 1 appeal. Everyone else gets life.

One of the problems with our criminal justice system is that no punishment left is a deterrent. Deterrence only works in a very small percentage of people, somewhere between 5 and 25%. There is a small group (I generally estimate it at 10%) of the population who are hard core criminals and nothing will deter them. Then there is a large group of people who need no deterrence as they will not commit crimes. This group is probably not as large as I would like to believe (85% of our people are good people) but is still a very large percentage. This only leaves that small percentage I mentioned as people who would commit crimes if there was no penalty where deterrence works.

As a general rule, I do not have a problem with the time spent on appeals of the death sentence for two reasons. First I want to make sure that someone is truly guilty before we, as a state, execute them. This includes allowing for changes in science that might prove us wrong or at least raise doubt about the case (most "exonerated" convicts are not truly exonerated - just have enough doubt raised to change what the verdict should have been). Secondly, I agree with most of the others about sitting on death row and I see it as a reasonable punishment for the guilty in the meantime.

But I support the idea of one mandatory review to verify that the police and prosecutor did their jobs properly and the subjects rights were properly observed if we can come up with some standard of proof that makes it a sure thing that the person is guilty. This is the only sure way to protect society from the suspect's depredations in the future. There have been escapes from death row in the past and will be again. And not making him suffer the time on death row when we know he is guilty and eventually going to be executed is more civilized behavior. I like to think we, as a society, are getting more civilized every year.

[LDB415]

One guaranteed method, as much as anything can be guaranteed, is to require DNA proof confirmed by two independent testing labs. I believe DNA covers it but on the extremely small chance of a lab error I'd go with confirmation by two independent labs. I don't remember enough statistics to figure the numbers but if both labs with zero affiliation give the same result in a billions to one situation individually I'd say that guarantees correct outcome.

[Keith B]

They obviously lied when the question was asked.

Not necessarily. Even with my previous law enforcement background, and pro death penalty view, until I have heard all the evidence in the case, I would be totally open to the punishment level. I would definitely be leaning toward life in prison or death penalty, but nothing is totally black and white in a case from an outside view. That’s why they convene grand juries on these types of cases.

[carlson1]

The issue in the two cases I mentioned the DA announced they would not be seeking the death penalty.

I understand the appeals process is out of control, but that doesn’t mean we should abolish capital punishment. When the two DA’s and one wife was killed in Kaufman County a few years ago they never hesitated and only tried for one of the deaths.

You can say what you will, but a murder along with a felony is a capital offense and deserves capital punishment.

[BigGuy]

The issue in the two cases I mentioned the DA announced they would not be seeking the death penalty.

I understand the appeals process is out of control, but that doesn’t mean we should abolish capital punishment. When the two DA’s and one wife was killed in Kaufman County a few years ago they never hesitated and only tried for one of the deaths.

You can say what you will, but a murder along with a felony is a capital offense and deserves capital punishment.

[Ruark]

I think there are some situations where the good of society transcends the good of the individual, and the death penalty is one of them. When a person commits a heinous crime, society benefits by ridding itself of that individual, as you would by ridding yourself of a tumor, or a cockroach in your kitchen, or a rabid skunk on your front porch.

I agree that the appeal process needs revision, especially in these days of omnipresent video cameras, DNA testing, etc. where culpability can be utterly beyond dispute, in which case it's ridiculous to drag it out for 10-15 years. By the time the person is executed, nobody may even remember the crime any more. There need to be certain conditions where "automatic appeal" is not granted. Of course, those conditions would have to be meticulously codified, but still....