Chapter Ten: A Model for the Nation

The Texas capital punishment system was riddled with severe problems.  Defendants were represented by sleeping lawyers, yet appellate courts refused to grant the convicted relief based on inadequate legal representation.  Indigent defense attorneys were underpaid by the state, resulting in inexperienced and/or poorly motivated counsel at trial.  Psychiatrists were allowed to testify as to the “future dangerousness” of a defendant without ever having interviewed said defendant.  The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused to consider even the most overwhelming evidence of innocence.  And the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles maintained the lowest clemency rate in the country, in a state with one of the most corrupt criminal justice systems in the country.