Governor Rick Perry of Texas Is An Idiot. (DP Thread)

[MrFun]

So is this a record number of times now, that Solomwi has pwned Slowwy?

[SlowwHand]

Shut up and leave.

[notyoueither]

He wasn't on trial for anything else.

I am under the impression the Governor is allowed to consider everything whether it has anything to do with the particular case or not.

Edit: I don't know about Texas in particular, but this is how it is done elsewhere under executive discretion.

[MrFun]

Shut up and leave.

no

[SlowwHand]

I am under the impression the Governor is allowed to consider everything whether it has anything to do with the particular case or not.

The governor can do what he can do. What he can do doesn't make what he does right.
People involved with administrating the Spanish Inquisition could, but that doesn't make it right.

[notyoueither]

The governor can do what he can do. What he can do doesn't make what he does right.
People involved with administrating the Spanish Inquisition could, but that doesn't make it right.

He wasn't conducting a trial, Sloww. That was all done already. The subject had been convicted, sentenced, and had exhausted appeals. The courts had their way with him seven ways to Sunday.

The Governor was considering whether to grant clemency to a deserving citizen. The granting of clemency is an act of mercy. It is a tradition hundreds of years old, if not more, where a person who has been unjustly handled by the courts may be saved from his or her fate by the granting of mercy by the highest executive authority in the land.

In short, clemency is to fix mistakes. If the real mistake in this case is that the shooter did not get the DP, then sparing this slimeball would only serve to compound the mistake.

[notyoueither]

And if the opinion of the Parole Board were to be considered final, the legislature of the State of Texas would make it so, and relieve the Governor of the burden.

The fact that they recommend and then he decides inherently grants that the Governor does not need to abide by their decision.

Where is the injustice?

[Solomwi]

1. It's not obvious that the accomplice's sentence should be governed by the shooter's. You're treating it like it is, by repeating that the shooter got life (your gracious promise to stop notwithstanding) without explaining why the shooter's sentence should govern the accomplice's.

2. How does mistakenly letting one murderer live make it any more right to let another murderer live? If the shooter's sentence is the mistake, you're saying that doing the right thing requires making a second, similar mistake.

3. Change NYE's post to "withholding clemency from the guy who was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder he was on trial for" and his point is unaffected.

4. All those people I mentioned earlier who contributed to the execution going far enough for Perry to do anything had to work with just the murder he was on trial for. They said he needed to die for it. Perry gets to consider his other murders, too. He may not need to die for them, but they sure don't move the balance in his favor.

You seem to be criticizing Perry for not falling prey to the same facile thinking that led you to conclude that the shooter's sentence should control the accomplice's. I'd applaud him for it.

[Solomwi]

The granting of clemency is an act of mercy. It is a tradition hundreds of years old, if not more, where a person who has been unjustly handled by the courts may be saved from his or her fate by the granting of mercy by the highest executive authority in the land.

I'm guessing it goes back, in some crude form, all the way to when Grog had the biggest tank stick in the cave.

[SlowwHand]

OK, Perry is a hero. I think he's on his way out as governor, and as was cited in this thread, he's hoping this will gain support from the majority of Texas voters who support the death penalty.
The guy is dead. Long live Perry, way after this term, which will be his last.

[notyoueither]

I'm guessing it goes back, in some crude form, all the way to when Grog had the biggest tank stick in the cave.

It's at least as old as the Bible.

[notyoueither]

I suspect the concept in our legal system is a marriage of German tribalism and Roman authority.

[Solomwi]

OK, Perry is a hero. I think he's on his way out as governor, and as was cited in this thread, he's hoping this will gain support from the majority of Texas voters who support the death penalty.
The guy is dead. Long live Perry, way after this term, which will be his last.

No. Doing nothing, especially when it's likely to be popular, isn't heroic. It's just not wrong in this case. For the record, based on what I know of the Willingham affair Boris mentioned, I think Perry's about as scummy as they get. Just not for declining the opportunity to save the life of a convicted murderer.