TJP

The Death Sentence is Harsh, not Libby’s 2 ½ Years

Byron A. Ellis

July 03, 2007

The former governor of Texas, George W. Bush, commuted Libby’s sentence of 2 ½ years on the grounds that it was too harsh of a sentence. However, according to Sister Helen Prejean, during George W. Bush’s six years as governor of Texas he presided over 152 executions, approximately 2.1 per month. She noted that rate of executions exceeded that of any other governor in the recent history of the United States.

If 2 ½ years of prison term is harsh for the former Texas governor, them how can he reconcile the 152 executions. Is an execution a less harsh punishment than 2 ½ years in prison? If so, something in the justice process is wrong.

Prejean noted that Mr. Bush stated that he reviewed each death sentence carefully, giving the impression of a very scrupulous fair-minded governor. However, Alan Berlow’s (Atlantic Monthly, 2003) use of the Public Information Act to gain access on confidential death penalty memos between former governor Bush and his legal counsel, Alberto Gonzales, revealed that most of the death cases were presented to him on the very day of the execution.

Prejean provides an example of the cursoriness of the governor’s review by evaluating the case of Terry Washington, a retarded man with communication skills of a seven-year-old. Washington, like Libby look towards Bush for clemency. However, Prejean writes that after a thirty minutes briefing with Gonzales, Bush checked “Deny” as he did with 28 other plea for clemency in his first 28 months as governor. 

In Washington’s case, it appears that executing a retarded man was from Bush’s perspective not harsh. Prejean tells us that Bush wrote in his autobiography that it was not his job to replace the verdict of a jury, unless there are new facts or evidence that the jury was unaware of. In the case of Washington there were new facts, but not in the case of Libby. However, Washington was not well connected.

George Bush and the conservative Republicans pretend to be on the side of law and order, as long as it applies to others: women, minorities, and the poor.