Texas governor saving lives
Gov. Rick Perry restores faith in justice by supporting DNA bill

By Emily Ward

One of the first things that came to my mind last summer when I thought about George W. Bush becoming our 43rd president was who would be the one to replace him as the governor of Texas. When I realized it would be Rick Perry, I was not pleased.

I have never been aquainted with Perry’s political background because he has never seemed to be the center of attention in newspaper and magazine articles. All of that changed, however, when Bush won the presidential election and resigned as governor.

“He’s even worse than Bush” and “he’s way too conservative” were the common phrases I heard around my fellow Democratic friends and family members. Although these were strictly biased opinions, I was not exactly thrilled at the thought of hearing “Governor Perry,” much less “President Bush” in the years ahead.

But now that Gov. Perry’s name is in numerous headlines and the topic of Texas conversation, I have learned a little bit more about the man behind those partisan opinions. So what have I learned? He’s not such a bad guy.

In fact, I applaud our new head honcho for his recent support of a DNA bill that is now on the fast track to becoming Texas law.

According to the new bill, inmates who can show compelling evidence that they were once wrongly convicted of a crime can qualify for DNA testing to prove their innocence. If genetic materials such as hair or bodily fluids are present at the crime scene, inmates can qualify for such tests.

This legislation was unanimously approved Monday by the Senate Jurisprudence Committee, and Perry has declared the measure of emergency, meaning the bill can be passed in the first 60 days of the legislative session without suspending rules of the House and Senate.

Thank you, Gov. Perry, for restoring some of my faith in our state’s judicial system. It’s bad enough that we are considered the death penalty capital of the world, so why not do something to make the name Texas a little less tarnished?

This new bill has the ability to save the lives of at least a few of those inmates on death row from meeting their maker for something they never did. I am avidly against the use of capital punishment in any way, shape or form, and now I am at least a little comforted that the innocent may prevail in this situation.

This past summer I read a frightening article about the mass amounts of people who were put to death with the complete support from our former governor and current president. The total (more than 130) was not as appalling, however, as the fact that Bush claimed none of the inmates were innocent of their crimes.

It’s one thing to be idealistic. It’s another to be just plain stupid. Although the probability of all those now-deceased inmates being
guilty is likely high, I would easily place a very high wager that it does not equal 100 percent. Nice try, Mr. President, but I think you forgot how to count again.

As for our new governor, I know he is rather supportive of the death penalty, but I can put those views aside for the moment to congratulate him on this wise decision involving prisoner’s DNA. Either way, Texas will be putting to death at least a few less people than before — something we have needed to do for quite some time.

Emily E. Ward is a junior math and news-editorial journalism major from Springtown.
She can be reached at (e.e.ward@student.tcu.edu.)

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