Why Are They So Eager To Kill Him!

As more and more states realize that the death penalty is error prone and not effective in stopping crime and doing away with it, Texas is rushing full speed ahead to fry him.

A Texas man’s execution was stayed. Now Ken Paxton wants to silence him.

Robert Roberson was supposed to give testimony before a committee of the Texas Legislature.

MSNBC

By Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College

October 25, 2024

On Oct. 21, Robert Roberson was scheduled to do what no death row inmate has ever done. He was supposed to give testimony before a committee of the Texas Legislature that is investigating his case.

This would have been a remarkable moment in death penalty history. It would have offered hope for Roberson himself. It also would have marked a moment when the humanity of someone convicted of a capital crime was recognized by treating them as a credible witness in a public proceeding.

That explains why officials in Texas, led by Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, have stepped in to prevent Roberson from testifying. As Paxton said on Wednesday: “A few legislators have grossly interfered with the justice system by disregarding the separation of powers outlined in the State Constitution. They have created a Constitutional crisis on behalf of a man who beat his two-year-old daughter to death.”

These people want him dead for political reasons, pure and simply!

They should follow the law and honor the subpoena as the Texas Supreme Court did last week. Citizens of Texas, whatever their views about the death penalty, should demand that Roberson be allowed to tell his story to the state Legislature. Death row inmates, including Roberson, have sometimes given interviews to journalists. But it is something entirely different when one of them is asked to lend their voice to an official consideration of a pressing matter of public policy.

Texas has some of the harshest laws in the nation! Texas has a crime rate of 432 per 100,000 and Connecticut has 150 per 100,000 and even the Republican Florida has 258 crimes per 100,000!

If Roberson is executed he would be the first person in the United States put to death on the basis of a shaken baby syndrome diagnosis. But since Roberson was convicted, shaken baby syndrome has fallen out of favor among many in the medical community. Doubts have been raised about it by judges and legislators in several states.

But they want to kill him no matter what, Why? Are they so eager to fry him?

According to the Innocents Project over 200 people have been “exonerated from death row” our justice system is not perfect… income, race, and politics all make the court system imperfect and subject to abuse. And Texas has some of the draconian laws in the nation and it doesn’t make it any safer.

Twenty-four states and Washington D.C. have legalized recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older, but in Texas you can still get 6-months for possession of 2 ounces or less! Living up to their motto "We're tough on crime!"

Texas, hardly a paradigm of criminal justice liberalism, became the first state in the nation to adopt such a law, which “clarified that judges could consider changes in the scientific value of already-available evidence as a basis for granting post-conviction relief even after all direct appeals are exhausted. “

Nonetheless, courts have repeatedly refused to allow Roberson, who has claimed he is innocent, from taking advantage of that law through what his supporters say is “deliberate misinterpretation.”

Let’s fire up ol’ sparky and fry his ass to show the voters that we are tough on crime!

Whatever its legislative purpose, Roberson’s appearance before the committee may also bring even more public attention to his case and help keep him from being executed. Whether it does so or not, it is a reminder that death row inmates are still human beings, entitled to be treated with dignity, and given a voice in public proceedings.

And that is what why Abbott and Paxton so anxious to execute him, to shut him up! They want to show that they are tough on crime! What a reason to execute a person… for votes!

Vote Blue to end this injustice! Vote Harris/Walz! And vote “Yes” on the Connecticut ballot on mail-in votes… don’t believe the Republican lies.