Death Penalty Land

Posted by lukegilman

January 7, 2007

Twenty-four condemned Texas killers were executed in 2006, accounting for 45 percent of all the executions in the United States. While the national count of 53 was seven fewer than 2005, the Texas total was up five from the previous year.

Houston Chronicle: Executions down in U.S. but not in Texas

A while back I ran into a guy with a very rare disease who said started feeling like a show pony. His was such an unusual case that his doctors frequently invited colleagues and students to examine him at every opportunity. His checkups became something like exhibitions. He didn’t mind entirely, a lot of intellectual horsepower was being applied to his case. What bothered him was how excited the doctors would get.

Somehow this is how I feel about the death penalty in Texas. It’s one of the reasons I decided to stay in Texas for law school. Intellectually it’s an exciting issue to wrestle with. High stakes cases are exciting. Nothing is more high stakes than life or death. It’s exciting to think I might be writing habeas corpus writs someday. Is it really something I should be excited about? Hmmm.

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