from his cell on death row, kenneth foster did not pretend for being an innocent. in 1996, foster drove the auto inside a nighttime crime spree, ferrying friends to two armed robberies just before subsequent a pair of autos right into a neighborhood. following foster's companion got out and shot 1 of the drivers, the 19-year-old foster whisked the murderer and his other passengers from your scene.
repugnant even though they are, foster's crimes didn't incorporate the murder of michael lahood, a 25-year-old law student. via an unprecedented flip of occasions, foster thursday narrowly escaped dying for that murder. to your surprise of many, gov. rick perry heeded the recommendation with the board of pardons and paroles to commute foster's sentence to daily life.
the governor's selection did not, nonetheless, occur from your "law of parties" — the unique texas law that holds all participants within a capital crime equally culpable, if it can be proved they "should have anticipated" the fatal outcome. the advocates for reducing foster's sentence included 13 members from the legislature,
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he certainly should have. his friend,
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perry, though, questioned something else: the fairness of a trial in which shooter and driver were convicted at the same time. when the legislature reconvenes in 2009, lawmakers should act on the governor's suggestion to reconsider the flawed texas law that allows such dual trials.
perry's commutation came only hours ahead of foster was to die. that there was not one particular question, but two about the propriety of his sentence underscores qualms about the unflinching way texas imposes the death penalty. foster would have been the 403rd person to die since the demise penalty was restored here.
the case is extraordinary, not just because foster was saved at such a late hour, but because the governor agreed with the parole board that the sentence was unwarranted. not required to follow its recommendations, perry once before rejected the board's 5-1 vote for clemency in the case of a schizophrenic inmate. that prisoner was executed in 2004.
foster's role in michael lahood's demise deeply harmed his loved ones and society. putting foster to demise, even so, would have been an unfit punishment for the part he played. the pro-death penalty perry was wise to acknowledge that,
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at the same time, foster's close call — and the multiple questions about the fairness of the sentence — only deepens doubts about other texas convictions that ended in lethal injection. it took a timely mix of evidence, representation and political leadership to forestall kenneth foster's execution. absent any 1 of these at the right moment, the miscarriage of justice would have been permanent.