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Flawed Jury Instructions Send Cases Back to Harris County

By Steve Hall

Here is one reason death penalty case can be so expensive.  The Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that the Texas law regarding jury instructions in capital cases was critically flawed.  The Texas Legislature later reformed the law to conform with the Court's ruling, but the damage had been done. Today's Houston Chronicle reports, "Death row inmates to get chance at life in retrials."  It's written by Chris Moran. Jury selection is scheduled to begin later this month in the retrial of a man sentenced to death for killing a Houston police officer, one of as many as 16 Harris County capital cases in which convicted killers could see their death sentences converted to life in prison.The case of Carl Wayne Buntion, convicted of gunning down Houston police officer James Irby during a traffic stop in 1990, is the highest-profile case being reviewed by Harris County prosecutors...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on February 08, 2011 (boomark / email).