The Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy has gotten off to a very disappointing start in 2005.
The newspaper, which was formulaic in its coverage of death row through the end of 2004, has been willing so far in 2005 to run AP coverage.
Still, today’s AP story follows the Chron eye formula pretty well.
There’s the attempt to highlight some redeeming quality of the killer:
One of his lawyers, Danalynn Recer, told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times that Kunkle is remorseful for the crime and is “anguished by the effect this is having on his family, particularly his mother.”
“He’s very concerned about how devastating it’s going to be for her,” Recer said. “And he’s scared.”
Then there’s the troubled childhood:
Defense lawyers said Kunkle, born in Nuremberg, Germany, where his father was stationed in the military, was raised in a troubled home and left mentally scarred by parents who had been treated for depression.
There’s no reference to the HPD crime lab and no cheap shots taken at the Harris County DA, since the original case was tried in Corpus Christi.
Maybe that’s the key — the Chronicle only dispatches its own reporters for the Chron Eye when it’s a case that somehow attaches to the HPD crime lab and/or the Harris County DA. Or maybe the Chron just loses track of the executions. Who knows exactly how decisions are made at 801 Texas Avenue?
Mr. Kunkle’s departure is scheduled for Tuesday. The execution of George Alarick Jones is scheduled for Thursday (his crime was in Dallas, so we may not get a staff Chron Eye for that one either).
