The Dominion of Texas executed Douglas Roberts on April 20th. Roberts 42, died shortly after 6:00 p.m. According to newspaper reports, he was upbeat and animated in the few minutes before the drugs were pumped in. Roberts had admitted to his crime, a murder that took place through a haze of drugs. At Roberts' instruction, his trial counsel called no defense witnesses and Roberts requested that his attorney pick a pro-death penalty jury. Those facts make this even more upsetting. Roberts' crime was horrible, but it was not the worst of the worst (isn't that what the theory of the death penalty claims it should be used for?). In fact, Roberts had apparent mitigating circumstances, but I doubt the jury heard them.
Texas Inmate Executed for 1996 Murder
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment