DP in Dallas, Sign of the Times?

August 23, 2009, 09:19

There are many ways to measure public support for the death penalty. The most common is to look at the high percentage of people who support DP in polls.

In Dallas, there have recently been highly publicized exonerations (largely involving cases tried over 2 decades ago). There has been a significant SCOTUS case reversing cases for alleged racial discrimination in jury selection (again, largely involving cases tried over 2 decades ago). Throw on top of that the change in leadership to an elected DA who has publicly expressed his reservations about the DP.

And then cut to last weeks headlines:

"Minutes after he learned a jury had sentenced him to death, killer James Broadnax laughed at the mother of one of his murder victims as she told him how he had devastated her life."

The jury included a black man who had been put on the jury by the judge (in reaction to a Batson hearing). That man, during voir, had expressed reservations about the DP. He became the foreman on the jury.

So, did the jury struggle?

"We just took our time going through all the evidence," said Jay Williams, one of nine men and three women on the panel. "We came to the decision without any reservations, with a very clear conscience."

Jury foreman Robert Patterson said the jury "went through a very thoughtful process" and no one person was at odds with the others.

Details.

So, why didn't the NY Times cover this case?