No, not the Mexican border.
The courtrooms of Harris County, Texas. This county’s judges send more people to death row than any other U.S. county.
This isn’t some out of the way place where justice is meted out by cowboy judges to hapless defendants represented by country lawyers. Harris County has more people than any other Texas county, is the third most populous county in the U.S., and includes Houston, a major urban area.
But Harris County is cheap about paying for lawyers to represent poor people, even when their lives are on the law. Not long ago, it paid a flat fee of $33,000 in death penalty cases. At typical legal billing rates, that pays for maybe 100 hours of lawyer time, including courtroom time. What poor defendants get is rushed, assembly-line representation. That leads to convictions based on flimsy evidence, such as unreliable eyewitnesses, and meager efforts to stave off death sentences.
And that has made Harris County a death factory, for innocent and guilty alike. Read story here.
Maybe at this point you’re wondering, how much evidence does it take to execute someone? The reality is, not much. This isn’t really about justice, or making sure the innocent aren’t found guilty and put to death; it’s about cops closing cases, judges clearing cases, prosecutors winning cases, and defense lawyers getting paid. Nobody really gives a damn about the defendants, especially if they’re poor.
Photo: This defendant looks like he’s wondering, “What are you doing to me?” Oh, we’re just going to kill you, that’s all.
