Intentional Legal Failure

The justice system in Texas is broken.

When in doubt, convict. That’s the only way to describe the execution of 53-year-old Marvin Wilson in Huntsville, Texas. All legal channels to spare him were used, but at every level the decision went against Wilson, although all the facts pointed to the opposite conclusion.

That Wilson, with an IQ of 61, would certainly be judged incompetent to stand trial is but one facet of a case that would attract national attention. The evidence was also very skimpy: The decisive testimony was given by the wife of a co-defendant who got off based on his wife’s testimony. That doesn’t mean she was lying, but it should have cast doubt on her testimony. There was no other evidence indicating that Wilson was the one who pulled the trigger.

There were so many doubts about the legality of this execution that a functioning justice system would have been forced to prevent it. That didn’t happen, and that can only be explained by the political environment. Namely, Texas Governor Rick Perry, once a promising candidate for president of the United States who blew any chance for election with his own stupidity and boasted proudly of his record of executions in Texas.

Last but not least, he is responsible for the fact that those sentenced to death in Texas have such miserable chances of survival. Perry himself vetoed a bipartisan law that would have prevented the execution of the mentally unfit. To prevent people like Perry from having the power of life and death over anyone, there is only one possible solution: abolish the death penalty.