22 Responses to “Gov. Perry Digs In”

1. #1 |  Stephen |  October 16th, 2009 at 3:27 pm

   I saw Perry on TV last night and it seemed to me that he was saying that he didn’t care about the way Willingham got convicted because Perry was sure Willingham was a bad guy.

   Seems like Perry doesn’t get the whole “due process” thing.

2. #2 |  Stephen |  October 16th, 2009 at 3:37 pm

   “hated even by his own defense attorney”

   Holy crap! I hope if I ever need a defense attorney that they at least let me know they hate me so I can try to replace them.

3. #3 |  Brian Despain |  October 16th, 2009 at 4:03 pm

   Radley – I did send and email about buying some space on your blog….Is there any information on that? Your Blog ads link is outdated.

   BSD

4. #4 |  jb |  October 16th, 2009 at 4:08 pm

   does this comment system work?

5. #5 |  jb |  October 16th, 2009 at 4:09 pm

   I guess it does–wasn’t 40 minutes ago . . .

   Radley–go here–more on the Perry/Willingham case in Texas.

   http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6670672.html

   jb

6. #6 |  Aresen |  October 16th, 2009 at 4:24 pm

   #1 | Stephen | October 16th, 2009 at 3:27 pm

   Seems like Perry doesn’t get the whole “due process” thing.

   Stephen, Stephen, Stephen. If you had been reading this blog for long you would know that due process is only for the “Good” people.

7. #7 |  Foobs |  October 16th, 2009 at 4:56 pm

   It is very important to the public that they be able to believe that the legal system not make mistakes. There are two ways to achieve this: to not make mistakes, and to not let mistakes get caught. Which is easier?

   To be fair, we don’t know so much that he was innocent as that the case against him was garbage. Maybe the system got lucky…

8. #8 |  Cynical in CA |  October 16th, 2009 at 5:01 pm

   I have long felt that lynchings of black men of the sort that used to occur in the Old South (and the not-so-Old South) were attempts to dispose of a scapegoat for the actual crime of a good ol’ boy.

   Methinks the same thing is happening in the Willingham case.

9. #9 |  Aresen |  October 16th, 2009 at 5:03 pm

   Maybe the system got lucky…

   You feeling lucky, punk?

   /somebody had to say it mode

10. #10 |  mark robbins |  October 16th, 2009 at 6:55 pm

    “It is very important to the public that they be able to believe that the legal system not make mistakes.”

    I guess if we were a nation of two year olds. It’s more important that mistakes can be fixed. And that mistakes, once made, are owned, corrected, and prevented in the future.

11. #11 |  UCrawford |  October 16th, 2009 at 7:14 pm

    Even Willingham’s defense attorney, David Martin, remains confident his client committed the crime.

    “There was no question whatsoever that he was guilty,” Martin said on CNN’s “AC360″ Thursday night.

    That comment right there should certainly raise questions as to whether Martin got a fair trial or adequate legal representation. There’s “no question whatsoever” that he committed the crime? Do defense attorneys often say that on the record about their clients? Did he hold that position at trial? And if so, did he really put forth his best effort to defend Willingham?

    Since that time, three investigations have concluded arson was not the likely cause of the 1991 fire, including one that arrived in Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s office 88 minutes before the scheduled execution.

    It seems that three arson investigators, who are trained to study suspicious fires, didn’t feel the case was as cut-and-dried as Willingham’s defense attorney apparently did.

12. #12 |  Bernard |  October 16th, 2009 at 7:53 pm

    As usual we can look to the Onion to explain why this ‘isolated incident’ won’t derail the system:

    http://www.theonion.com/content/video/supreme_court_rules_death_penalty

13. #13 |  KBCraig |  October 16th, 2009 at 8:20 pm

    Perhaps Gov. Goodhair and I have different definitions of what makes someone a “monster”. My definition includes knowingly executing innocent people, then engaging in political shenanigans to cover it up.

14. #14 |  Tokin42 |  October 16th, 2009 at 8:38 pm

    #11

    I was watching that last night, it came up after the balloon boys family, It was pretty amazing to watch his attorney argue how guilty the guy was. I don’t watch much cable news, if ever, but the end of the blitzer interview and the attorney interview were both pretty incredible.

15. #15 |  Stephen |  October 16th, 2009 at 8:59 pm

    #6 | Aresen | LOL

    On an OT note, I found this to be funny.

    Accused animal hoarder allegedly Tasers trooper

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ODD_STUN_GUN_TROOPER?SITE=TXDAM&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME

    Sorry, I don’t know how to make a nice link. If it doesn’t work, look under the offbeat section on http://www.dallasnews.com/

16. #16 |  Jerri Lynn Ward |  October 16th, 2009 at 10:49 pm

    I am campaigning for Debra Medina. She is a true libertarian (note the little “l”) John Bradley has huge baggage as a DA. It is obvious to me as a Texan that he was appointed to deep-six the investigation.

    The irony for me is that I completely support the idea of a death penalty. However, I cease t support the authority of a civil governmental entity to apply the death penalty given the current failings of civil government. If this is not an example of such a failing, then I am a TeaSip (not).

17. #17 |  RobZ |  October 16th, 2009 at 10:50 pm

    In David Martin’s defense, he used to be a State Trooper.

18. #18 |  Andrew S. |  October 17th, 2009 at 9:49 am

    I find it very, very concerning that I’m pretty much going to be forced to support Kay Bailey Hutchinson next year in the gubernatorial race, because at least she’d be marginally better with this kind of thing.

    (actually going to support Kinky, but gotta be realistic here)
    (not like it actually makes a difference, since I don’t live in Texas)

19. #19 |  Edmund Dantes |  October 17th, 2009 at 10:45 am

    Really KBH? Wanna know her biggest problem with the Willingham case? The fact that the way Perry has handled this case has given “liberals” something to attack the death penalty on. Not the idea that an innocent man may have been executed, but that “liberals” have something to attack with.

    Sociopathic

20. #20 |  Foobs |  October 17th, 2009 at 10:48 am

    Mark Robbins (#10):

    I have bad news for you: we are a nation of two year olds. Not all of us exactly, but enough that the rest don’t matter.

21. #21 |  Matt Fursome |  October 17th, 2009 at 8:14 pm

    Hey did the White House Communications Director really say she admired Chairman Mao? Or is that idiot Glenn Beck just making stuff up?

22. #22 |  Billy |  October 17th, 2009 at 10:35 pm

    Perhaps Gov. Goodhair and I have different definitions of what makes someone a “monster”. My definition includes knowingly executing innocent people, then engaging in political shenanigans to cover it up.

    I don’t watch tv, but I did happen to see a clip of him being downright nasty about it. Speaking of monsters.

    Then I read the New Yorker report Radley cited in his update…

    Wow.

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