152 Texas double execution to expose capital justice flaws International standards of justice and decency continue to be ignored in the US capital of judicial killing, Amnesty International warned today, as Texas prepares to kill the first two of six prisoners it has lined up for execution in August. As the world increasingly turns its back on this cruel, outdated and irrevocable punishment, the international community must now redouble its protests at the injustice inherent in the US capital justice system. Brian Roberson, black, was sentenced to death for the 1986 killing of an elderly white couple in Dallas County. The prosecutor at his trial systematically removed African Americans from the jury pool, indicating that they were not educated enough to sit on a jury. At the trial of Oliver Cruz, a Latino accused of the rape and murder of Kelly Donovan, white, the prosecutor argued for execution on the grounds that Cruz's learning disability made him more of a threat to society.
International standards oppose the death penalty for the mentally impaired.
In yet another blatant example of the lottery of US capital justice, Cruz's white co-defendant, charged with the same murder, received a prison term in exchange for testimony against Cruz. State and federal politicians must find the courage to overcome the politics of this brutalizing punishment and offer human rights leadership. The US conveyor belt of death must be halted. Background John Satterwhite, who has been diagnosed as learning disabled and suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, and Richard Jones, about whose guilt there remain troubling doubts, are set to die in Texas in the next two weeks. David Gibbs and Jeffery Caldwell are also due to be killed in the Huntsville lethal injection chamber before the end of the month.