A day late and a dollar short
Thomas Keister
October 04, 2007
Hooray for misguided outrage, I find myself thinking from the gallery as the brouhaha builds over the execution last month of Michael Richard in Texas (not to be confused with Michael Richards of Seinfeld or unfortunate video footage fame). On the day Richard was set to be executed by lethal injection, his attorneys were rushing to file an appeal, but a computer malfunction forced them to call the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, asking for the court to remain open another twenty minutes so they could file the paperwork
"We close at five," was the answer the lawyers received from the court clerk.
While I can safely assume this caught Richard's attorneys off-guard, at least it didn't rattle them. Going to the Supreme Court, they managed to buy their client a couple more hours with which to digest his last meal, but since they had not filed an appeal with the local courts, the argument was not accepted, and Richard was put to death, declared dead at 8:23pm, the forty-first person executed in the United States in 2007 thus far.
The clerk's response to Richard's lawyers is becoming more and more of a hot topic, with the Dallas Morning News expressing disgust in a recent editorial. Also notable is the fact that no death row inmates have been executed since Richard. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals recently stayed the execution of Heliburto Ari, which is being interpreted as a sign the courts are waiting to see how the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of lethal injection.
First of all, I fail to see where outrage is warranted here. Have you ever heard the expression "a day late and a dollar short?" I mean, seriously here, people, Richard's attorneys had to know what day the execution was, so how did it take them until the last minute to figure out they needed to file an appeal? It has been my experience in the legal system that a deadline missed results in tough luck (or equivalent four-letter word) being given as an only and most assuredly final answer.
Second, why does the Supreme Court need to weigh the constitutionality of lethal injections? Because a pair of lawyers forgot to wind their watches? What if the appeal ran late for the one guy who got the electric chair, would I be complaining about the time being wasted on figuring out the electric chair instead? It's all nonsense. At the rate this country is determined to go, the only death penalty we'll have left is the one we are already using far too frequently - natural causes.
"We close at five," was the answer the lawyers received from the court clerk.
While I can safely assume this caught Richard's attorneys off-guard, at least it didn't rattle them. Going to the Supreme Court, they managed to buy their client a couple more hours with which to digest his last meal, but since they had not filed an appeal with the local courts, the argument was not accepted, and Richard was put to death, declared dead at 8:23pm, the forty-first person executed in the United States in 2007 thus far.
The clerk's response to Richard's lawyers is becoming more and more of a hot topic, with the Dallas Morning News expressing disgust in a recent editorial. Also notable is the fact that no death row inmates have been executed since Richard. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals recently stayed the execution of Heliburto Ari, which is being interpreted as a sign the courts are waiting to see how the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of lethal injection.
First of all, I fail to see where outrage is warranted here. Have you ever heard the expression "a day late and a dollar short?" I mean, seriously here, people, Richard's attorneys had to know what day the execution was, so how did it take them until the last minute to figure out they needed to file an appeal? It has been my experience in the legal system that a deadline missed results in tough luck (or equivalent four-letter word) being given as an only and most assuredly final answer.
Second, why does the Supreme Court need to weigh the constitutionality of lethal injections? Because a pair of lawyers forgot to wind their watches? What if the appeal ran late for the one guy who got the electric chair, would I be complaining about the time being wasted on figuring out the electric chair instead? It's all nonsense. At the rate this country is determined to go, the only death penalty we'll have left is the one we are already using far too frequently - natural causes.
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