Texas is also a trendsetter when it comes to killing the mentally retarded and children. Texas, though, merely reflects what is true nationwide. The chance that a person charged with a capital crime will live or die depends enormously on race, social class and perhaps most importantly of all, where the crime was committed. For this report, we're grateful to Stephen Bright of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta and two death penalty lawyers in Texas, David Dow and Brent Newton, who provided us with much of the information in this article. When it comes to the death penalty, Texas is in a league of its own and the situation there is growing worse.
Racism plays a huge role in determining who dies.
In one glaring example, Texas law enforcement authorities picked Clarence Lee Brandley from among many suspects in a circumstantial case of rape and murder of a white woman. Dallas has sent dozens of people to death row but never for killing an African American. Blacks make up only 20 percent of the county's population but about two-thirds of its death row inmates. Texas also boasts a number of mad dog district attorneys. Minority races almost always empathize with the Defendant.