Texas sees two death penalty related bills introduced

The State of Texas sees two death penalty related bills introduced. The chances of them actually being passed is a whole other story. We can hope at least.

State Rep. Jessica Farrar, a Democrat from Houston serving her eighth term, introduced a bill that would do away with capital punishment in Texas. This legislation is long overdue and should be taken seriously.

The bill takes the statute on capital offenses and deletes every instance of the phrase "death penalty."

It would require that "in a capital felony trial, prospective jurors shall be informed that a sentence of life imprisonment without parole is mandatory on conviction of the capital felony."

On Tuesday, on the day another Fort Worth man was scheduled to be executed, the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty organized a lobby day at the Capitol to urge legislators to give House Bill 682 a hearing.

Another bill before the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee would create an innocence commission and name it for a Fort Worth man who was convicted of the rape of a fellow Texas Tech student in 1985, and who died in prison after serving 10 years of a 25-year sentence.

This year he became the first person to be exonerated posthumously.

SANDERS: Texas Legislature should pass two death-penalty related bills

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