Just a few days ago, the Chronicle ran a Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Gal on Frances Newton, who is scheduled to be executed on September 14.
We noted that Mr. Kathryn Kase‘s newspaper was starting early with its anti-death-penalty advocacy this time, and that probably was an indication that we’d get many more Chron Eyes on Newton.
Today, there’s a new Chron Eye about Newton. Here’s an excerpt of the effort to humanize Newton:
Along with his drug usage, Adrian Newton’s infidelity and his contrite confessions and pledges to reform were hallmarks of the couple’s marriage. On the day of the killings, Newton said, the couple had reconciled and agreed to eschew extramarital affairs.
Newton, who became pregnant with the couple’s first child at 14, said she loved her husband and children.
Occasionally pausing to wipe away tears, Newton recalled that Alton was “definitely all boy” and often protected his younger sister.
She recalled one incident in which the little girl mischievously took single bites out of apples displayed in a fruit bowl.
“Alton took the apples and turned the bite marks to the back so I wouldn’t see what she had done,” Newton recalled. “Farrah was very loving.”
The substantive portion of the story focuses on a theory advanced by defense attorneys about the presence of a second gun, which Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal characterizes as pure fiction.
The story also includes hearsay in support of the arguments advanced by defense attorneys:
Dow said the parents of Newton’s husband have voiced support for stopping the execution, but that claim could not be verified Wednesday.
The attorney also said a one-time prisoner in the Harris County Jail, a former husband of one of Newton’s cousins, claimed that another prisoner boasted of killing the family. Dow conceded that claim has not been verified.
So, it’s unverified gossip. But hey, this is Mr. Kathryn Kase’s newspaper — if it helps the anti-death-penalty cause, why not disregard journalistic standards and run with it?
Unsurprisingly, the story completely ignored one salient bit of news in this case from yesterday. As the Dallas Morning News reported,
The Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday rejected claims that Ms. Newton was ineffectively represented at trial and ruled that re-testing of the skirt would not establish her innocence.
The Associated Press, LA Times and the New York Times also reported the Court of Criminal Appeals ruling that the Chronicle ignored.
Will the newspaper manage a third Chron Eye on Newton in Sunday’s edition, or will the next effort be some sort of smear of Chuck Rosenthal’s office by Metro/State editorialist and gossip columnist Rick Casey? Stay tuned.
