Collin County needs to review capital cases

by Bill Baumbach of of The Collin County Observer

Earlier this week, Dallas DA Craig Watkins told the press he wanted to re-examine about 40 death penalty cases from Dallas County. Watkins also said he would seek temporary stays of execution if needed until he completes the reviews of all Dallas death sentences currently on death row.

Collin DA John Roach needs to do the same.

Both Dallas and Collin Counties have been in the news lately for their handling of capital trials. Dallas County has seen a number of high profile exonerations of innocent defendants convicted in an era of "win at all costs" prosecutorial misconduct. Mr. Watkins cited the case of Patrick Waller, who was convicted of a 1992 robbery-rape.

By the time Waller was finally cleared, the statute of limitations had run out on prosecuting the real perpetrators. Not only did an innocent man spend years in prison wrongfully, but the real guilty party got off scot-free.

This week, Collin County District Court Judge Greg Brewer dismissed the murder indictment against Michael Blair. Blair was convicted and sentenced to die for the murder of young Ashley Estell in 1993. DNA has since demonstrated his innocence...and for 15 years the real child killer has been free.

Another death sentence may be reversed in the case of Charles Dean Hood who was convicted and is scheduled to die in a case that has rocked the legal community. Twice now, Hood has come within days of being executed after a trial prosecuted by the illicit, secret lover of the judge.

Judicial and prosecutorial zeal has caused the recusal of another Collin County judge in the case of Mark Bell.

Collin County is well known for its no-nonsense harsh sentences and vigorous prosecution of evil doers. Unfortunately, it appears that, at least some of the time, our zeal to convict has overrun our sense of justice.

Our notion that all defendants are innocent until proven guilty in a fair trial is one of the glues that holds our society together. Most of us don't fear our courts, because we are confident that even if we are wrongly charged, the truth will prevail.

When that confidence is lost, we no longer live under the rule of law, but the rule of men - men who wish us harm.

In a letter to DA Roach on the Hood case, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott wrote, "... a death sentence is the most serious and solemn act of any state. The impartiality of a defendant's trial and conviction must be beyond reproach."

As important as the notion of a fair trial is the unavoidable problem that when an innocent man is convicted, a guilty criminal is left free to commit new crimes - to hurt more victims.

Dallas DA Watkins stated this in his statement this week. Referring to the conviction of Patrick Waller, Watkins noted, "This is larger than just having innocent folks in jail. This is about having criminals out on the street with cover to go and commit their offenses."

As General Abbott wrote, "neither the victims nor justice will be served" by the execution of a man convicted in an unfair trial.