Although 31 states currently allow capital punishment for the most serious crimes, only about a fifth of people sentenced to death since Gregg v. Georgia, the 1976 Supreme Court decision that reinstated the death penalty, have actually been executed. Many death row inmates have died of natural causes, effectively serving a life sentence after being sentenced to death. A notable example is Charles Manson, who died in a California prison in 2017 after serving decades for a series of high-profile murders he and his accomplices committed in the late 1960s.
Texas has the reputation of being a state that readily executes inmates. In fact, more than one third of the executions that have taken place since Gregg were in Texas. While the numbers of executions have declined overall in the last decade or so, a person convicted of murder in Texas still has a greater chance of facing the death penalty than someone convicted of the same crime in any other state in the U.S. In the first eight weeks of 2018, four people have been executed in the United States; three of them were in Texas, and one in Florida. Thomas “Bart” Whitaker could easily have been the forth Texan to die by lethal injection in 2018, but Texas governor Greg Abbott commuted his sentence to life in prison.
No Death Penalty for Whitaker
Bart Whitaker was on death row for a 2003 shooting in which he killed his mother and brother and seriously wounded his father, Kent. Had Kent Whitaker not survived the shooting, there is a good chance that Bart would not be alive today. It was Kent’s plea for clemency for his son that heavily influenced Gov. Abbott to halt Bart’s execution. Kent stated in his plea that his Christian faith had led him to forgive his son for the crime he committed, and he called for forgiveness on the part of the state, as well. Gov. Abbott commuted Bart’s sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Another Reason for Halting Executions
Since 1976, more than 160 death row inmates have had their sentences commuted. Sometimes, the scenario plays out like Whitaker’s, with someone, whether survivors affected by the inmate’s crimes or anti-death penalty activists, successfully convincing the governor to spare the inmate’s life simply out of mercy. Also in 2018, the state of Alabama halted the execution of Doyle Lee Hamm at the last minute. The reason was that Hamm’s cancer is so advanced that authorities did not think it was possible to connect the intravenous lines to his veins safely. They were not able to find an alternative way of connecting the IV lines, and the death warrant expired.
Contact Madrid Law About Felony Cases
Criminal defense lawyers have played an essential role in having the sentences of death row inmates commuted, and in some cases, having their convictions overturned, allowing them to walk free. Contact Madrid Law in Houston about criminal cases, no matter how great or how small.
