Hooman,

Thank you for your invitation, but I myself am not interested in debating the death penalty or joining the media circus surrounding same. I personally, as I am sure many others who fall into this catagory, am still processing emotions from the mindless loss of my good friend and great prosecutor nine and one-half years ago. The execution of his killer did personally help me, and that is my input into this debate.

There may be some families of murder victims who would want to debate with you over this topic, or perhaps make a presentation to you. You might try contacting Justice For All, Parents of Murdered Children or some other type of organization.

I was not employed in Bastrop until long after the Rodney Reed trial occurred. I have an opinion, but it really wouldn't be proper for me to comment on a pending matter, particularly in light of the allegations of the pro-Reed supporters.

I will however say that Lisa Tanner and her fellow investigators and attorneys, as well as former Bastrop DA Pennick are all very ethical people, and I am proud to be in the same profession as they are.

I would be happy to express my opinion about one particularly distasteful aspect of the efforts of the Reed matter, if any prosecutors or investigators wish to contact me via telephone at my office. I don't want to put any ideas in the heads of others, thus I will not post that information here. But I will say that it was highly offensive to me, as an attorney and an officer of the court.

I am sure you can find folks on the pro-death penalty side of the street who are interested in public debate, etc and will participate in your program.

Lastly, I feel very sorry for Audrey Lamm and her loss. However, don't stereotype all hippies as being anti-death penalty. I know many on the pro-side. One of the finest death penalty prosecutors I know is a hippie. An aging hippie. And he even went to UT. Big surprise there.

[This message was edited by Greg Gilleland on 04-03-06 at .]

[This message was edited by Greg Gilleland on 04-03-06 at .]

Greg,
Thanks. I appreciate your comments.

Hooman,
I am not weighing in on this thread in order to comment on the specifics of the Rodney Reed case, since it is still pending.

However, I would suggest that you read the trial record on that case before coming to conclusions about the appropriateness of that conviction and sentence. It is public record. Additionally, if you should accept this invitation to see what really happened in court, I would urge you to pay particular attention to the punishment evidence, especially the litany of other victims who testified against that defendant, since that aspect of the case seems to have been lost in the shuffle.

I am sure the information you have received from various websites, demonstrations, documentary films, the media, and other sources is quite intriguing. But if you really want to know what happened and why the jury decided as it did, and why the appellate courts have continually upheld that jury's decision, skip the propaganda and go directly to the source - read the record.