Rodeo no competition for Judge Fine's court
blogadmin | 06 March, 2010 11:43
The throngs visiting the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo are missing the best show in town. If I were them, I'd consider hopping on the MetroRail and heading for the Harris County Criminal Justice Center, where Judge Kevin Fine is causing a bigger ruckus than the Xtreme Bulls competition.
The jurist was in a spotlight brighter than Kenny Chesney's Thursday after ruling favorably on a motion in a low-profile murder trial. Why all the fuss? Fine's ruling made the death penalty illegal in the jurisdiction of his 177th District Criminal Court.
Beneath the robes: Judge Kevin Fine
I'm sorry I missed Fine's special session the following day in which he explained his ruling. The next best thing is the raw footage of his 12-minute statement, at http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=7314442.
“Based on the moratorium in Illinois, the Innocence Project and more than 200 people being exonerated nationwide, it can only be concluded that innocent people have been executed,” Fine said. “It's safe to assume we execute innocent people.”
Fine agreed with defense attorneys for Edward Green Jr. that the Texas law governing instructions to a jury violates the Eighth and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibit cruel and unusual punishment and guarantee due process.
His decision came under fire for flauting existing case law, but he pushed back, saying, "There is no precedent to guide me in resolving this particular issue."
Fine praised the integrity of Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos, whose office is seeking the death penalty in Green's case. The basis for his ruling, he said, is his role as a trial judge to be a gatekeeper for society's evolving standards of decency and fairness.
The next time to be on the 19th floor of the Criminal Justice Center where Fine presides may be on Wednesday, when he is expected to rule on prosecutors' motions that he reconsider his ruling.
Meanwhile, I'm sending him a mash note:
Dear Judge Fine:
As of today, I’m proud to be a Houstonian. Thanks to you, I can point to incontrovertible evidence that at least one jurist in my city has moral courage and the intellectual wherewithal to use it wisely on the bench.
Anyone who thinks Gregg v. Georgia has corrected the random and capricious application of capital punishment in the U.S. ignores the shameful, overwhelming evidence that race and class remain the only valid predictors of who we condemn for murder.
Thank you for being brave enough to point out the emperor’s lack of attire. I’ll be following the aftermath avidly.
Sincerely yours,
Elizabeth Ann Stein
Senior Producer, Execution Watch
P.S. With the Rodeo in full swing at the time of your ruling, I’m reminded of something Mark Twain said: “It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.”
General, Politics, Wrongful Conviction, Constitutionality |
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Galveston paper backs Fine
Elizabeth Stein | 09/03/2010, 10:58
http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=33c3c22302857cdc
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Judge's critics not arguing right facts
By Heber Taylor | The Daily News
Since State District Judge Kevin Fine of Houston declared the death penalty
unconstitutional, critics have pointed out that he:
A. Is a Democrat.
B. Is a recovering alcoholic.
C. Is a former cocaine user.
D. Has a lot of tattoos.
They have not provided a coherent defense of the death penalty as it is
administered in Texas.
If you want to read some really brutal criticism of Texas' death penalty,
forget about Judge Fine for a minute. Take a look at the justices on the U.S.
Supreme Court, most of whom were appointed by conservative presidents. For the
past decade, they've had a lot to say about Texas.
The court threw out one conviction, not because it doubted the guilt of the
convicted murderer, Thomas Miller-El, but because it found that, for decades,
prosecutors in Dallas County "had followed a specific policy of systematically
excluding blacks from juries." That's a decadeslong problem of procedure that
poisoned countless cases. It's not something that can be covered by an excuse.
When the Supreme Court began questioning the practice of executing people for
crimes they committed before the age of 18, they looked at Texas, which had 26
such people on death row.
When the Supreme Court expressed qualms about executing people who are
mentally retarded, it looked at Texas.
The U.S. Supreme Court is not obsessed with Texas. The justices were just
looking at the most obvious problems.
Here are just three:
. The possibility of error is great. The problems Texas has had with some of
its crime labs are notorious. You'd have to be dense not to wonder about the
evidence that has been presented to juries. The state has released people who
have spent years in prison after DNA confirmed their innocence.
. There are still too many questions about racial bias.
. Too often the question of who lives or dies has more to do with money than
with justice. Those who can afford to pay for a near miraculous defense often
get one. Meanwhile, poor defendants often get poor representation.
For the past decade, The Daily News has asked the governor to declare a
moratorium on the death penalty and to ask the Legislature to study the
problems and address them.
We think real leaders would find that an interesting, challenging proposal - a
more challenging topic than Judge Fine's tattoos.
Order Rescinded by Fine
Elizabeth Stein | 09/03/2010, 22:11
Texas judge rescinds anti-death penalty ruling
March 9, 2010
HOUSTON — A Texas judge has rescinded his highly criticized ruling
that the death penalty is unconstitutional.
However, the debate on the issue isn't over. Judge Kevin Fine on
Tuesday said he wants more information on whether the state's death
penalty statute is unconstitutional because it allows for the
possible execution of an innocent person.
During a court hearing, Fine took back last week's ruling, which he
made in granting a pretrial motion in a capital murder case. But he
asked attorneys to submit motions on the issue. A hearing is set for
April 27.
Fine's ruling received criticism from a string of high-profile
Texans, including Gov. Rick Perry.
Fine is a judge in Harris County, which sends more inmates to death
row than any other county in the nation.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/
ALeqM5hJjNzsQw2EkiMdsxPajJMR64dMJAD9EB9EJ00
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Who am I?
Elizabeth Ann Stein produces EXECUTION WATCH on KPFT FM Houston 90.1, HD-2 and www.executionwatch.org. The program, hosted by Ray Hill, airs at 6 p.m. Central Time any day Texas executes someone. It is designed to counteract the virtual news blackout in the mainstream media when prisoners are executed. She has worked as a political reporter for United Press International, police reporter at a daily newspaper, and an editor for PC Week.
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Fine
Victoria Panetti Studer | 07/03/2010, 10:55
We need more FINE men on the bench. What a brave judge. Their should be more like him. I like the Mark Twain quote very much. Whenever I loose some faith in justice, somebody like Judge Fine makes me have more hope again.