We’ve had some fun over the years with the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy, which was once the anti-death-penalty Houston Chronicle‘s formulaic portrayal of every single cold-blooded killer who was scheduled to meet his end in Huntsville.
To its credit, the newspaper has largely stopped the practice of hagiographic features on the worst of the worst in Texas. Who knows, maybe they grew tired of the mockery.
Unfortunately, their credibility and honesty on the issue have long since been squandered. And so, not many people take the newspaper’s struggling Editorial Board, or its Teen Diarist, seriously when both say that a Texas man is about to be executed for a terrible crime that new evidence (or reinterpretation of old evidence) suggests he probably did not commit.
This time, the newspaper is right. The Editorial Board and the Teen Diarist (and others) make a convincing case that enough doubt has been raised about Larry Ray Swearingen’s guilt that he should be granted a stay
As our mockery of past Chron Eyes should make clear, we don’t have much sympathy for the truly guilty, worst of the worst in the state of Texas. But it’s no laughing matter when serious, evidence-based questions, are raised about the guilt of a man sentenced to die (on Tuesday).
It’s the most serious penalty the state can impose. Irreversible. Final.
The first time the state demonstrably gets it wrong will likely be the last. This could very well be that instance. Why take the chance?
Larry Ray Swearingen isn’t going anywhere. There is time enough to make sure we — because “we” are the state — have it right. Or that we do not.
Err on the side of life and delay this execution.
UPDATE (01-26-2009): The Dallas Morning News reports that the Fifth Circuit has ordered a stay. This should allow yet another look at the evidence and another round of arguments from defense and prosecutors alike. It is important to get this right.
