Rick Perry On Death Penalty And 'Ultimate Justice' In Texas: 'I've Never Struggled With That'

Brian Williams becomes the next reporter to almost, but not quite, hold Rick Perry to account for the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. During the GOP debate Wednesday night, Williams asked without naming Willingham, or going at Perry armed with the science that undermined the prosecution's case. (A pity: this came on the heels of the moderators trying to get Perry in a spat with Jon Huntsman about who was "anti-science.")

Williams simply asked in general if Perry had ever struggled with the idea that someone who was killed via capital punishment was innocent. The weak sauce allowed Perry to wriggle off the hook: "No, sir. I've never struggled with that at all. The state of Texas has a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place of which -- when someone commits the most heinous of crimes against our citizens, they get a fair hearing, they go through an appellate process, they go up to the Supreme Court of the United States, if that's required.

"But in the state of Texas, if you come into our state and you kill one of our children, you kill a police officer, you're involved with another crime and you kill one of our citizens, you will face the ultimate justice in the state of Texas, and that is, you will be executed."

For what it's worth, here's an article from the Houston Chronicle, Oct. 27, 2010:

After 18 years of incarceration and countless protestations of innocence, Anthony Graves finally got a nod of approval from the one person who mattered Wednesday and at last returned home -- free from charges that he participated in the butchery of a family in Somerville he did not know and free of the possibility that he would have to answer for them with his life.

The district attorney for Washington and Burleson counties, Bill Parham, gave Graves his release. The prosecutor filed a motion to dismiss charges that had sent Graves to Texas' death row for most of his adult life. Graves returned to his mother's home in Brenham no longer the "cold-blooded killer," so characterized by the prosecutor who first tried him, but as another exonerated inmate who even in the joy of redemption will face the daunting prospect of reassembling the pieces of a shattered life.

"He's an innocent man," Parham said, noting that his office investigated the case for five months. "There is nothing that connects Anthony Graves to this crime. I did what I did because that's the right thing to do."

It's worth worrying about!

Williams plodded ahead with a sentimental follow-up, asking Perry to react to the fact that members of the audience applauded when hearing Perry has executed 234 individuals. Perry replied, "I think Americans understand justice. I think Americans are clearly, in the vast majority of -- of cases, supportive of capital punishment. When you have committed heinous crimes against our citizens -- and it's a state-by-state issue, but in the state of Texas, our citizens have made that decision, and they made it clear, and they don't want you to commit those crimes against our citizens. And if you do, you will face the ultimate justice.

But what if scientists say you sent a man to his death for having committed no crime at all? For everything you need to know about Perry and Willingham, click here.

There's still an opportunity for some reporter somewhere to ask Perry about this case, if they're interested!

Comments

[eggsnham]

09:41 AM on 09/11/2011

Is Rick Perry the Antichrist? Who else could get a room full of Christians to erupt in roaring applause at the number of people he has put to death?

“Asked if he ever lost sleep worrying that one of those executed might have been innocent, Perry replied, ‘No, sir. I’ve never struggled with that at all.’”

Neither did Pontius Pilate, I would wager. This would seem to be in contradiction to the teachings of Jesus, but I have an explanation for that. All of that forgiveness nonsense was Old Jesus, before they executed him. Republican Christians seem to be all about New Jesus, the post-crucifixion, vengeful, kick ass, torture and execution, war loving Jesus. See, not the Antichrist at all.

[Siara]

04:42 PM on 09/10/2011

Anyone who doesn't struggle with putting another person to death is truly empty headed and devoid of morals

[JohnBryansFontaine]

11:50 AM on 09/10/2011

Cheering For Death At The Reagan Library Debate
by Doug Matacnis

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/cheering-for-death-at-the-reagan-library-debate/

[ThomasPaine1776]

10:48 PM on 09/09/2011

He has no empathy. This is not a macho thing, it is mental illness.

There is a farily widespread mental health issue. Some people have no conscience. You can identify them with simple questionarres.

Read John Dean's "CONSERVATIVES WITHOUT CONSCIENCE"

[supratroll]

04:17 PM on 09/09/2011

why would anyone think he has a conscience? he doesn't, that's abundantly clear.

[Margaret Cadogan]

03:13 PM on 09/09/2011

This unthinking bloodlust is familiar to Americans. The smiling faces in the old postcards of lynchings reveal the same demographic (religion,politics, geography, worldview) that we are facing today with the TP, and they openly pine for a return to their glory days. See withoutsanctuary.org for a trip down memory lane.

[OHnative]

01:20 PM on 09/10/2011

Oh, Margaret, Please! Spare me the threats of a return to lynchings and hatred of minorities.

Tea Party activists whom you cannot defeat in the arena of ideas, argue that Government has over-promised and under-delivered with taxpayer money for decades.

Obamacare is the ultimate power grab of CONTROL over the citizen and the patient-doctor relationship--not to mention 17% of our economy....and about 20 new taxes to "pay for it."

TP members don't leave a trail of debris behind after their rallies, unlike union protestors who do and who threaten and name-call their political opponents. TP members pay taxes and are self-reliant. If you cannot observe the obvious expansion of those dependent on government and the threat of our national debt to our stability, you really need to get out of the sun.

Obama's economic promises and policies are completely OPPOSITE each other. Perhaps you should review his Inaugural Address and LISTEN to what he committed to doing as President.

[Margaret Cadogan]

07:09 PM on 09/11/2011

How many Americans have said "fiscal responsibilty? that sounds reasonable." only to find themselves surrounded by the "children of the corn" attacking everything that allowed most of us access to the middle class; not just unions (those dirty people) but universities, public school teachers, feminists, federal intervention in human and civil rights, social security and pensions, medicare, and scientific progress. What does fiscal responsibility have to do with protestant creationism, homosexuality and a revisionist view of slavery and civil rights? Tpers fall back into economics on amainstream stage yet continue to lament what most of us consider to be a century of progress and growing prosperity. I'm not threatening a return to lynching, because we still have it and it is still cheered. Same people, same towns, same churches, same world view, same rhetoric, same longing for a 19th century "real america" when the underclass knew their place in the "natural" status quo.

[Downrivers]

10:11 AM on 09/09/2011

Anyone who cares to read about this case will discover that the State has all but admitted they executed an innocent based on bogus evidence..and that the physical evidence proves it.

The only thing that stops Texas from admitting it...is that it could create a Constitutional crisis...in that the Death Penalty could be unconstitutional if it were ever proved that an innocent were executed.

Sandra Day O’Connor has said that the “execution of a legally and factually innocent person would be a constitutionally intolerable event.”

The most telling moment in the debate was when the audience applauded the number of Texas executions­....applau­ded!....TH­AT is the base of the Republican Party in a nutshell..­.and that is why Independen­ts must insure that any politician who panders to that base....is NOT elected to national office.

[CommonWealth-SinglePayer]

02:56 AM on 09/10/2011

It is just plain sad and disturbing that the USA is one of a few countries on this planet that kill it's own citizens via Capital Punishment.

State says it is wrong to Kill, fine. But when someone does kill, the state kills them, hmmm?

[josie klapper]

10:05 AM on 09/09/2011

This from a real "man" who needs a laser sight on a .38 to shoot a coyote

[gnorrfa]

09:20 AM on 09/09/2011

Leaving aside the "right" or "wrong" of capital punishment it disturbs me to the core that someone who could become our commander-in-chief has never had qualms on executing anyone. Many officers of the law need counselling after taking down a criminal, even when it was totally justified. It just strikes me as someone who runs on rails, no compromise, no second thoughts, just get it done.

[Inkosi]

09:40 AM on 09/09/2011

Talking with technicians who worked in biomedical labs and shelters - these people suffer bouts of depression and deal with post traumatic stress disorder because of what they have to do. In biomedical it is justified by "helping humans" which has proved to be totally untrue. In shelters it is to cull unwanted animals - either way, it kills a part of the human spirit. Mammals are born with the capacity to feel empathy - Mr. Perry, Ms. Bachmann, Mr. Romeny et al seem to have lost that capacity or have Novocaine in thier veins.

[josie klapper]

10:17 AM on 09/09/2011

Note that the President spent the night at Dover watching bodies being returned from the wars prior to ordering the surge in Afghanistan...

[Inkosi]

12:00 PM on 09/09/2011

Note that Bush forbade televising the return of bodies from Iraq and Afghanistan.

[AngrymanT]

01:09 PM on 09/09/2011

Ok! Is there a point somewhere?

[Bonnie Larkin]

09:16 AM on 09/09/2011

Here in Texas the death penalty is legal - voted on by and for the citizens of this Most Beloved / Great State. Gov Perry did not invent this law, he does however follow the law.
obama can not say that -- look at ' fast and furious' - the act of war on Libya - backdoor amnesty - suing states of this nation - forced obamacare mandates. just to list a few acts that are blatent acts of self appointed kingmanship.
but I don't think the moderators will permit this - it's just not left enough

[AngrymanT]

01:10 PM on 09/09/2011

What?

[Bonnie Larkin]

01:34 PM on 09/09/2011

truth is confusing to those with damaged brains due to way too much kool-aid.

[BlueFloyd]

08:14 AM on 09/09/2011

The audience reaction reminds me of the '08 debates, when the gop candidates were trying to outdo each other as to who would kill the most muslims. (fred thompson topped them all by saying he would send more of them to their virgins than anyone else on the stage...

....of course he was only acting when he said it).

[Inkosi]

09:42 AM on 09/09/2011

They are all acting! That is what they do. Remember the old Arpage ad
'Promise her anything but give her Arpage" - The thugs "Promise them anything - they give them nothing".

[wayne the pain]

07:49 AM on 09/09/2011

Anyone that tells you that they never struggle with the decision of putting someone to death is either a liar or a fool! In Mr. Perry's case I suspect it is both!

[Quasi Libertarian]

07:36 AM on 09/09/2011

I wonder how the left would respond if a debate moderator asked a Democratic candidate that was pro choice if he or she could sleep well at night knowing that he or she supports laws that allows innocent babies to be terminated every day?..............We all know full well that that question is way out of line and the person asking that type of question would be called out on the carpet for that type of conduct.

[BlueFloyd]

08:12 AM on 09/09/2011

You are of course free to wonder. However, why bring false equivalents into this discussion before you have said one word about rick perry, which is the subject here.

[khanista]

09:26 AM on 09/09/2011

Since when is something resembling a tadpole a baby?

[Inkosi]

09:43 AM on 09/09/2011

khanista - O MY! that comment smacks of evolution which the thugs deny!

[gkfrog]

09:27 AM on 09/13/2011

since the moment of conception. it's the child you would have had. Might be 25 today.

[Cpt Spaulding]

07:08 AM on 09/09/2011

Strange, we feel the same way about him! http://s530.photobucket.com/albums/dd347/bad_dog_album/?action=view¤t=PrickPerry.jpg

[Var Enyo]

06:56 AM on 09/09/2011

This was a particularly creepy moment and stood out above anything else(even all the Ponzi scheme rhetoric). I just read John Grisham's 'The Innocent Man' and am guessing that justice? is not much different in Texas than in Oklahoma where it is set. These people simply want someone killed, I guess whether or not they may be innocent thus leaving the real criminal out there somewhere. If one does not care about that, at least they might consider that it costs a lot more to go through with an execution than a sentence of life in prison.