Capitol conference urges repeal of the death penalty in Texas

Alfredo E. Cardenas, South Texas Catholic
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A serial killer of children took the life of her youngest child, but Marietta Jaeger-Lane reached deep into her Catholic faith and upbringing to forgive him. Today she is actively campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty and she did so at the state capitol in Austin on Friday, Oct. 23 at a conference on "rethinking the death penalty."

"Loved ones, wrenched from our lives by violent crime, deserve more beautiful, noble and honorable memorials than pre-meditated, state-sanctioned killings," Jaeger-Lane said. "The death penalty only creates more victims and more grieving families. By becoming that which we deplore—people who kill people—we insult the sacred memory of all our precious victims."

The public and moral consequences of capital punishment were the subject of a one-day conference entitled "Journey To Mercy – Rethinking The Death Penalty In Texas" hosted by the Texas Catholic Conference on Friday, Oct. 23, in the Texas Capitol in Austin.

The conference offered participants an opportunity to re-examine the state’s system of capital punishment amid increasing public concerns about the application and morality of the death penalty. The concern is motivated by a number of recent high-profile cases of death row inmates being exonerated of the crimes of which they were accused and a number of legal and academic studies have raised concern about the fairness of the process.

The conference was co-hosted by the Office of Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr; the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty; the Catholic Mobilizing Network; and the Texas Mercy Project (an initiative of the Texas Catholic Conference). It featured panel discussions by state legislators, public policy leaders, clergy and victims advocates on the aspects and consequences of capital punishment in Texas.

A march and rally Standing Against The Death Penalty - Walk for Life, Hope, Mercy" scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24, was called off on account of inclement weather in Austin.

“When the Church talks about the death penalty we find that, regardless of political perspective, all Texans share a common interest in securing justice for victims of crimes and for those accused of committing crimes,” said Dr. Jeff Patterson, executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference.

“What Texans do not want is someone being put to death for a crime they did not commit, nor a justice system that does not treat everyone equally under the law,” Patterson said. “The conference seeks to bring both death penalty opponents and proponents together to forge consensus-based policy recommendations that achieve these common objectives.”

There have been a number of signs indicating Texans question how the death penalty system works in Texas. A 2012 Texas Politics Project poll found that while 73 percent of Texans support the death penalty in concept, barely half thought the death penalty was fairly administered in the state. In addition, support for capital punishment drops to 53 percent when presented the alternative of life in prison without parole (37 percent prefer).

Since the option of life in prison without parole was made available in Texas, the number of death penalty cases has dropped dramatically. Sen. Lucio, who calls himself "pro-lifetime Catholic" sponsored the legislation on life without parole and said he will continue to "incrementally" chop away at the death penalty until it is complete abolished in the state.

What this suggests, Patterson said, is that while Texans may support the idea of a death penalty, an increasing number of people are not sure the death penalty works. That could be a large part of the reason why so far in 2015 only two death sentences have handed down by juries in Texas' 254 counties.

Other speakers included former death penalty supporters former Gov. Mark White and former Bexar County district attorney Sam Milsap. White spoke about the death penalty as a " systemic injustice" and Milsap spoke on the costs the death penalty imposes on counties in Texas.