Texas is known to get excited about two things: football and capital punishment. 2009 has only just begun, and already, six executions were set for this month alone. Welcome to Criminal Justice 101.
Curtis Moore – Executed last week for the abduction and murder of three victims, in two different incidences. Moore and an accomplice bound Truevillen (20) and Hoyle (21), drove them to an undisclosed area, shot and doused them with gasoline to be set on fire. Hoyle somehow managed to escape and survived. Roderick Moore (24) and Boone (21) were later murdered in the same fashion (minus the fire.)
Frank Moore - Executed Jan. 21, 2009 for the double shooting of Boyd (23) and Clark (15) outside a San Antonio club. Moore claimed he only shot them in self-defense, and remained adamant in this conviction until the very end.
Reginald Perkins – Scheduled for execution today for strangling his stepmother, Gertie Perkins. Her body was found in the trunk of her Cadillac. Perkins had been convicted in Ohio for the raping of two 12-year-old girls, sentenced to prison, and released on parole after 4 years. He was suspected of killing two other women, but insubstantial evidence left him to roam freely to Texas.
Virgil Martinez – Charged for the murders of a Hispanic woman (27), her two children (3, 6), and a Hispanic male (18). Martinez admitted himself into a mental hospital after the fact, on the claims that he was hearing voices instructing him to kill. No evidence was accumulated to substantiate these claims. His execution is set for the 28th of January.
Ricardo Ortiz - Scheduled to die Jan. 29. Ortiz has a history of criminal activity and incarceration: robbery, burglary of a vehicle, 2 counts of aggravated robbery, possession of deadly weapon in a penal institution, and finally, the murder of an inmate by injection of a triple dose of heroin.
Surely, I believe in the integrity of our justice system. Capital punishment cases, in particular, get lengthy overviews and cost, on average, $2.3 million per case to ensure proper assessment. However, when cases are nebulous like that of Swearingen, I have to ask, is Texas getting a little overzealous?
