Guilty in Texas

Being a strong advocate of the death penalty, I find myself at odds with Molly Ivins over her Aug. 22 commentary bashing the Texas judicial system. Her main complaint was the death sentence for convicted murderer Napoleon Beazely.

Ivins claimed Beazely should not be executed for several reasons, which I found irrelevant. First was his age. At the time he killed, he was 17. So what? She even said his age doesn’t make him any less guilty. Therefore, why should he be punished any less severely?

She also claimed he was only given the death penalty because he was a black who killed a white. She further claimed that there are fewer whites having killed blacks on death row in Texas than vice versa. There is a simple and non-racist reason for that; there happen to be more blacks who have killed whites in Texas. But that doesn’t mean whites who kill blacks aren’t punished. Remember dragging victim James Bird’s white killers are now on death row.

Finally, Ivins claimed Beazely was given an unfair sentence because he was poor and that a rich killer would have been given a lesser sentence. So now there is class envy in the court system? In truth, court-appointed lawyers are no less competent than their more affluent counterparts, but perhaps they are a little more honest. All Ivins pointed out was, if you’re wealthy you can buy your way out. It still doesn’t make you any less guilty and only means the wealthy aren’t being justly punished.

In Texas, the guilty get what they deserve. I’m sorry there are people who happen to have a problem with that.

Martin T. Ingham

Robbinston