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Helping Karl
Newsweek
November 2007
Two decades ago Watkins could not have been elected in Dallas. He is black, a Democrat and a former defense lawyer. His most famous, or notorious, predecessor was Henry Wade, the Dallas D.A. from 1951 to 1986. The year Wade left office, The Dallas Morning News found a manual used by city prosecutors. It stated: "Do not take Jews, Negroes, Dagos, Mexicans, or a member of any minority race on a jury, no matter how rich or well educated." Minorities have been disproportionately sentenced to death— especially if the victim was white. Wade apparently wanted to make sure they got no sympathy votes. Wade, says Watkins, choosing his words judiciously, was "a product of his time." Watkins is a product of more recent times. In the 2006 election, tough-on-crime didn't work in Dallas. "My opponent wore the number of people he had sent to death row like a badge of honor," says Watkins, about the Republican incumbent he beat last year. Watkins's more benign approach—stressing justice, not vengeance—was mocked as "hug-a-thug" by detractors, but Watkins won. "I see a change in mentality," he says. "We've had a lot of folks coming out who didn't commit crimes and that gives people pause." Dallas leads the nation in the number of DNA exonerations for all counties in the United States (14). "In the near future, we will see the death penalty rarely," he says.
There may be no such thing as a foolproof system for killing people fairly and painlessly. The smallest glitch can make too much of a difference. The last execution before the Supreme Court imposed its moratorium is a case in point. Harris County, Texas—encompassing the city of Houston—has far more executions than most states, so it has had plenty of practice. At 9 a.m. on Sept. 25, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear the Baze case challenging the constitutionality of lethal injection. Michael Richard, convicted of rape and murder in 1986, was scheduled for execution that night. His lawyers rushed to file a new motion based on the high court's ruling, but their computer crashed and they missed the 5 p.m. filing deadline. A judge refused to keep open the state court. Richard was executed at 8:22 p.m.
Evan Thomas & Martha Brant
Newsweek
19th November 2007
