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03 March 2005
Chron Eye For the Former Juvenile Death Row Killer Guys
With a recent lull in death-penalty executions in Texas, the Chronicle hasn't had a chance to run a new Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy in a while.
One day after three separate editorials celebrating the Supreme Court's juvenile death-penalty decision, however, the newspaper managed to come up with the rather predictable Chron Eye for the Former Juvenile Death Row Killer Guys.
They called it something else, of course, but we like our title better.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Death Row Killer Guys"> 03/03/05 10:03 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
11 November 2004
Chron eye for the death row killer guy - cont'd
We missed pointing out the latest installment of Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy on Monday.
It departed slightly from Jeff Cohen's tried and true formula since it didn't feature a gratuitous reference to HPD and/or the crime lab.
Juan Lezon is surely not going to move up the Chron hierarchy if he doesn't get with the Cohen program on death row advocacy journalism!
Two more executions are scheduled for next week, so maybe Lezon will have another shot at it.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ death row killer guy - cont'd"> 11/11/04 12:11 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
29 October 2006
Longest Chron Eye ever?
There's a new Chron Eye For The Death Row Killer Guy posted today.
The Chron Eye is the local Hearst daily's regular effort to humanize death-row killers as they await execution. This one is by Sarah Viren, who seems to have produced the longest Chron Eye ever -- nearly 1,200 words!
The death-row killer, Donell O'Keith Jackson, is scheduled to depart this world on Wednesday.
BLOGVERSATION: Cigars, Donuts, and Coffee.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/06 10:54 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
08 March 2007
A new Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy!
The Chronicle's Allan Turner delivers the latest Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy today, and it's a pretty solid performance considering the last statement from the death row killer guy:
When asked if he had a final statement, he answered in a confident voice, "Yes, yes, I do."
He then unleashed a stream of profanity directed to a female death row major, concluding, "That's all I've got to say."
He again looked toward his family and winked.
Charming fellow.
Still, the Chronicle has a formula that must be followed in the Chron Eye series, and so we have the requisite "nice quality" of the killer:
"Joseph was a phenomenal young man," his mother, Lee Greenwood, said in an earlier interview. "He was wise beyond his years. He was popular in school. The girls loved him. He was an all-around athlete. He made good grades. At one point, he even played the violin."
But then, something in his childhood sent things off track:
Things started to go awry in his last years of high school, and Greenwood, who had moved to California, began hearing from relatives in Houston that Nichols was running with a tough crowd.
And finally, the purported flaws in the justice system that led to the execution:
He died not long after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his final appeals. His case was marked by national controversy as his lawyers argued he had been sentenced to die for a murder his robbery partner, Willie Williams, had admitted to committing.
And so concludes another edition of the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Death Row Killer Guy!"> 03/08/07 07:46 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (4)
28 March 2006
A new Chron eye
There is a new Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy.
This one isn't as horrible as some, but it's really not clear why the newspaper devoted so much column space to the story of Death Row Killer Guy Kevin Kincy.
It's also not clear why he is referred to as "Kinsy" at one point in the story.
Those layers of editors and fact-checkers must have missed that one.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/28/06 04:35 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
05 November 2009
Return of the Chron eye
AFTER THE MASSIVE LAYOFFS at the Chronicle this spring, some of the pet projects of the newspaper (or at least the newspaper's editor and his wife) were curtailed: the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy has appeared much less frequently.
Today, though, the Chron's arts columnist (and editorial board member) took up the old cause with a special "arts" edition of the Chron Eye. Nevertheless, the death-row killer guy departed this world earlier tonight.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/05/09 08:54 PM | General | Technorati | Comments (0)
22 March 2006
AP eye for the death row baby killer guy
The Chronicle chose not to dispatch a member of its staff to cover the execution of a baby killer in the form of a Chron Eye, instead running AP copy today:
[Robert] Salazar, 27, was the sixth prisoner put to death this year in Texas and the second of four scheduled this month in the nation's busiest capital punishment state.
Salazar told police he just wanted Adriana, whom he was baby-sitting, to stop crying. So he pushed her with the back of his hand, causing her to fall down in a bathtub and hit her head.
``I did not mean to hurt Adriana,'' Salazar told police in a statement after his arrest for the girl's death in her Lubbock home. ``I don't want people to think I'm a bad person for what I did.''
But authorities said Salazar did more than push the toddler. In a violent rage, he inflicted injuries on Adriana that a pathologist who testified at his trial said were worse than those suffered by victims of auto accidents.
Nice guy.
Apparently, even the Chronicle's anti-death-penalty editors draw the line at sending out staff to portray an admitted baby-killer sympathetically.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ death row baby killer guy"> 03/22/06 09:54 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
25 July 2007
Chron Eye for the 100th Harris County Death Row Killer Guy!
A three-reporter Chronicle story today notes the indifference over what the reporters (or at least their editors) probably thought would be a much bigger, much more exciting story:
Lonnie Earl Johnson, convicted of the 1990 robbery-murder of two Magnolia teenagers, became the 100th killer sent to Texas' death house by a Harris County jury on Tuesday.
The execution took place without the street theater and bullhorn-amplified protests that normally mark such events.
No television cameramen jockeyed for position as witnesses marched into the Huntsville Unit.
Seven death penalty opponents watched wordlessly from a distance.
Little emotion was displayed, either by Johnson's sole witness or by relatives of the victims, who declined comment Tuesday.
Maybe there's a lesson for the Chronicle's editors, who chose to devote three reporters to this latest Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy.
Like most people (apparently), Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal did not seem to regard 100 as any sort of magical number:
Johnson's status as the 100th killer executed at the behest of Harris County juries since Texas reinstated the death penalty in 1982 caused little stir at the district attorney's office.
District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal dismissed it as "insignificant."
In the story, the three reporters note that #101 is scheduled for August.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Death Row Killer Guy!"> 07/25/07 08:52 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (7)
17 November 2008
A new Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy!
Allan Turner offers up a Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy* today.
The Death Row Killer Guy's lawyer declined to talk to the Chronicle, and the newspaper could not reach members of the victim's family, so Turner was reduced to building this Chron Eye from court testimony:
Cathey's sister, Charlotte Ezeh, testified that the killer was pampered at home. But his mother, Willie Lee Cathey, told jurors that the family's home life was tumultuous, with her husband drinking, using drugs and accosting family members with firearms.
Cathey married at 17 and fathered two children, jurors were told.
Luke Ezeh, Cathey's now former brother-in-law, said he employed the killer in his battery shop.
"He was a very good guy," Ezeh said. "He sold batteries and kept the money and never took anything from me. I don't think he deserves to die. He made a mistake, but he should be corrected, not put to death."
Ezeh said Cathey was a musician whose partner had absconded with a recording. "He was trying to locate him through the girl and things got out of hand," he said. "That is what I heard. I was not there."
In a death row interview, Cathey insisted he had spent the night of the murder watching television with his girlfriend.
"I am not guilty of the crime," Cathey said. "I never met the woman."
The killer admitted he had been convicted of an earlier drug offense, but said he had never served prison time.
Upon arriving on death row, he said, he was "very fearful."
"I knew that I didn't do anything," he said. "I had a sense of hopelessness. ... I had seen guys who had gone off to their executions."
Now, he added, "I play it by ear. I'm praying to God to work things out."
We trust that He will.
This Chron Eye does continue the very recent practice of working in the term "Huntsville death house," which the author/editors would surely deny is subtle editorializing** (despite the fact it tends to be used -- derisively -- by those opposed to the death penalty).
Why a shrinking business with declining readership continues to expend so many resources on pet political causes favored by the editor's wife is an ongoing mystery.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Death Row Killer Guy!"> 11/17/08 10:11 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
17 November 2004
Chron eye for the death row killer guy - cont'd
On Monday, it seemed Roma Khanna had let Jeff Cohen down.
In that installment of the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy, Khanna departed slightly from the Chron Eye formula, neglecting to mention redeeming prison activities of the death row killer (like poetry or knitting) and also neglecting any reference to HPD or the crime lab, while actually devoting column space to the victim.
However, Khanna rebounded strongly today (the death row killer guy is scheduled to be executed tonight), as lawyers brought out the kitchen sink in an effort to save the death row killer guy:
An attorney representing a Houston man scheduled to be executed today argued Tuesday his life should be spared because of problems with the police work and prosecution in the case.
Anthony Guy Fuentes, 30, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection this evening for the shooting death of Robert Pres-ton Tate, 28, after a robbery of a convenience store on Feb. 18, 1994. Fuentes admits he participated in the robbery but maintains he did not kill Tate.
An appeal filed Monday notes discrepancies in the testimony of eyewitnesses and argues that Houston police officers improperly questioned witnesses. Defense attorneys also argued that Harris County prosecutors knowingly allowed a witness to give false testimony and withheld information that would have allowed defense attorneys to expose inconsistencies.
"You have all of these witnesses who witness the same event, and they are all seeing different things — some of them are dramatically different," said Jim Marcus, executive director of the Texas Defender Service and one of Fuentes' lawyers. "There are so many problems with the eyewitness testimony, and the case really hangs on putting the right gun in Fuentes' hands."
Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen's wife, Kathryn Kase, is a prominent member of the Texas Defender Service.
Maybe that explains the journalistic resources devoted to the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy, even as entire sections are dropped and staff is laid off.
(Update) Anne Linehan calls my attention to the fact that the Texas Defender Service's website links to a recent Chronicle series, A Deadly Distinction, on Harris County as the "pipeline to death row" in Texas. How convenient!
(Update 2) This particular Death Row Killer Guy is no longer with us.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ death row killer guy - cont'd"> 11/17/04 08:21 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
11 July 2006
A different kind of Chron eye
In the past, we've made fun of the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy, in which Chronicle writers go out of their way to profile cold-blooded killers in the best possible light.
Yesterday, the Chronicle posted a different kind of Chron Eye, with some pretty strong quotes from family members of victims of the cold-blooded killer:
"I hope the son of a bitch rots in hell," Ertman's father, Randy, said last week. "He deserves it."
and
"Don't say time makes things better," Peña's father said. "It never goes away. It's never going to go away. The hurt is still the same. I still find myself crying just out of the blue."
Prior Chron Eyes talked about the prison poetry or art or troubled childhoods of the killer guys, instead of focusing on the victims, so this is real progress.
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/11/06 11:42 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
11 February 2009
New Chron Eye profiles killer/rapist
There's a new Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy today.
The profile centers on Johnny Ray Johnson, whose rap sheet includes four murders and more than a dozen rapes (including the rape of his pre-teen niece).
As usual for these sorts of efforts, this Chron Eye takes a look at Johnson's "abusive childhood" and alleged problems with the case (claims that his confessions to heinous crimes were coerced by detectives at gunpoint).
The only thing really missing in this Chron Eye is a discussion of the man's discovery (in prison) of his love of poetry. Or ballet. Or some such.* However, the conclusion makes up for that omission a bit:
“God has a time for everybody,” the killer said. “Regardless of what happens, I know that I will be in heaven.”
It's a shame that the area's newspaper of record fritters so much of its credibility (and space) with these insipid profiles of some of the worst criminals ever put away. On those occasions when real doubt is raised about someone on death row, Chron readers can't help but wonder if it's just another of Jeff Cohen/Kathryn Kase Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ killer/rapist"> 02/11/09 09:24 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
15 November 2005
Return of the Chron Eye
We thought perhaps the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy, the anti-death-penalty newspaper's series of apologia for death-row killers, had been retired (much like the silly Editorial LiveJournals seem to have been retired).
There was the reverse Chron eye last week, to add to the suspicion.
There has been the recent tendency simply to run AP coverage of executions in Texas.
And there was this AP coverage of death row killer guy Robert Dale Rowell, posted to Chron.com yesterday.
That's why we were surprised to see today's Chron Eye by Rosanna Ruiz.
She sounds a little sad that she doesn't have much to work with, as Chron Eyes go:
Unlike many of his fellow inmates on death row, Robert Dale Rowell never got much television airtime or received much newspaper ink.
The 50-year-old will walk into Texas' death chamber tonight a virtual unknown, the 18th inmate to be put to death this year.
No public campaign has been waged on his behalf. The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty issued a routine alert on Rowell's execution that does little more than lay out the facts of his case.
A last-minute reprieve is unlikely. His lawyers are not claiming he is mentally retarded or that his trial attorney fell asleep in court. His appeals were exhausted last month when the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to review his case or his claim that the trial judge should have given the jury better instructions.
"There is nothing now pending," Rowell's attorney Ed Mallett said Monday.
The trial was not even one to stand out for Kelly Siegler, the Harris County assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case in 1994.
So, this one was so cut-and-dried that even the usual suspects couldn't get worked up about it.
But given her shot at writing a Chron Eye, Rosanna Ruiz gives it a strong effort:
Eleven years later, Mallett describes his client as a "reasonably literate, very nice person."
"He has a history of being violent when confronted and under the influence of drugs. All of his offenses are drug-related," Mallett said. "He's aware he has an extreme susceptibility to addiction and that he cannot control it when it's available to him."
Rowell earned his GED and associate's degree in prison.
In court records, Randy Rowell explained that he and his brother had to be more independent as children because their mother had been on medication most of her life. Randy Rowell did not return a phone call seeking comment for this article.
"The whole neighborhood did drugs and once you do them, you always want them," Robert Rowell is quoted in a 1998 report after a psychological evaluation. "Before I did drugs, I stayed with my grandfather and fished and I was happy."
See, he wasn't so bad. Not for a guy with a bad mother. And he liked to fish! Life just sort of got away from him, and made him kill those people.
And that's today's Chron Eye.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/15/05 02:32 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
09 November 2005
A reverse Chron eye!
We've had a few laughs at the Chron Eye For The Death Row Killer Guy.
Today, however, the Chronicle confounded us with what amounts to a reverse Chron Eye.
Zeke Minaya actually profiled one of the victims of a death row killer guy:
The memory of the attack no longer pains Julie Hollas the most. Instead, it's the small and unexpected ways the violence and fear of those few hours have woven themselves into her daily life.
She doesn't like to leave home at night. She shrinks from hugs — even from her 7-year-old son — if hands come close to her neck. She cannot stand the smell of sweat.
"If Greg has been working in the garden, he has to take a shower before he can even kiss me hello," Hollas said of her husband of nearly 10 years. "Because it will bring back a fear. I go through it again."
Charles Daniel Thacker was already a convicted rapist when, Hollas says, he sexually assaulted her Feb. 17, 1993. Thacker was arrested two months later, after strangling Klein schoolteacher Karen Gail Crawford during an attempted rape, and convicted of capital murder.
He is scheduled to die tonight.
That's a different twist from the newspaper.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/09/05 10:03 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
14 March 2006
Nothing like that Chron firewall between opinion and reporting
That impregnable Chronicle firewall between opinion and reporting was on display in a death-penalty story today:
Nearly four months after Bexar County prosecutors promised to vigorously reinvestigate the questionable execution of Ruben Cantu, they have yet to obtain full statements from the three witnesses who claim he was innocent.
Just because the execution of Cantu is questioned by anti-death-penalty advocates and crusading Chronicle journalists does not mean that they have yet proven that the execution was questionable. Indeed, that would be the point of carrying out the investigation they have been urging.
Opinion frequently is substituted for straight reporting at the Chronicle when it comes to the death penalty. This is but one of many examples, unfortunately.
PREVIOUSLY: Chron pushes death-penalty case hard in leadup to Thanksgiving, A busy death-penalty week for the Chronicle.
GREATEST HITS: Chron eye for the death row killer guy.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/14/06 11:01 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (9)
11 September 2006
Best Chron Eye of 2006?
Matt Bramanti was the first to alert us today to a new Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy, the latest installment of the local Hearst daily's semi-regular effort to redeem death row killers awaiting execution.
The typical Chron Eye formula, readers may recall, has three parts: 1) reporter points out some "redeeming" quality of the death row killer guy; 2) reporter points out some bad aspect of the death row killer guy's childhood; and 3) reporter calls into question some aspect of the justice system's treatment of the death row killer guy (with a bonus if the HPD crime lab or Chron "bad guy" Chuck Rosenthal can somehow be criticized).
Today's Chron Eye goes for the hat trick. Here's the "redeeming" quality:
"I live every day with what happened, and I regret what happened," he said. "How much remorse does society want me to show?"
Hmm, three brutal murders involving beatings with a meat hammer? Just a guess, but I'm thinking society feels like a lethal injection is just about right.
Here's the childhood angle:
Matchett was raised early on by his paternal grandparents in the East Texas town of Madisonville. His teenage mother lived in nearby Midway, and he rarely saw his father. After his mother, Annie Robinson, married, Matchett went to live with her in Grand Prairie near Dallas.
At 13, Matchett began to hang out on the streets and run errands for drug dealers and prostitutes. The bottom really fell out of his life when his 11-year-old sister was raped. Matchett said he blamed himself for not being around to protect her.
"It was the worst time of my life," Matchett said.
And finally, the reporter questions the criminal justice system:
Roy E. Greenwood, an Austin lawyer appointed to represent Matchett in the Huntsville cases, said he remains puzzled about Matchett's guilty plea. He said Matchett should have been able to argue in court that he killed Anderson in self-defense, but was prohibited by the plea.
"Why he (Davis) pled him guilty and blew off all these legal issues never made sense to me," Greenwood said. "You just don't give up with plea of guilty."
Matchett, whose federal and state appeals all were denied, also faulted his trial attorneys for not presenting mitigating evidence for jurors to consider a lesser punishment. He also claimed that court-appointed appellate attorneys botched his appeals.
There's an added celebrity bonus in this Chron Eye:
Anti-death penalty groups and activists, including French actress Bridget Bardot, have latched onto Matchett's case.
French actress? THAT is world class!
This death row killer guy is scheduled for departure from the living on Tuesday.
Thanks to Rosanna Ruiz for a top-notch edition of the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer guy. That is probably the best one so far in 2006!
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/11/06 09:46 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (4)
04 May 2006
No staff Chron Eye for this death row killer guy
The Chronicle declined to use its own staff to report on Jackie Barron Wilson, who was executed in Huntsville today. Instead of the sympathetic portrayal of a killer that we've come to expect from the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy, the newspaper ran AP coverage.
Perhaps it was just too hard to portray this guy sympathetically:
A former laborer was executed tonight for the 1988 rape and murder of a 5-year-old North Texas girl.
[snip]
[Jackie Barron] Wilson was condemned for the slaying of Lottie Margaret Rhodes, known by the nickname "Maggie." After breaking into her bedroom, he kidnapped Maggie from her Arlington apartment in the early morning hours of Nov. 30, 1988, then sexually assaulted the little girl before killing her.
Authorities said Wilson, who lived in nearby Irving, strangled Maggie before running over her with a car.
Maggie's battered body was found about five miles from her home a few hours after she was kidnapped. She was face down in a muddy ditch next to a rural road in Grand Prairie.
Running AP coverage instead of a full-blown Chron Eye was a good call.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ death row killer guy"> 05/04/06 09:33 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
01 November 2004
Chron eye for the death row killer guy: the series
Despite massive layoffs, the anti-death-penalty Chronicle always seems to have adequate staff to profile death row killers sympathetically.
In fact, we've noticed that it happens with such consistency that it can't just be a coincidence. Chron editors are making a conscious decision to portray the state's most violent criminals as sympathetic figures. Presumably, the newspaper's anti-death-penalty editors think this sort of coverage will weaken public support for the death penalty in Texas -- Jeff Cohen being the condescending sort of editor who wants to teach his readers the right way to think, instead of covering the news important to them.
It's great blog fodder, though, as it gives us a chance to call attention to the sort of "coverage" the newspaper that missed Enron actually excels at these days. Future posts on this subject will also carry the title above.
Without further ado, here's a look back through Chron eyes at some upstanding criminals (some of whom are no longer part of this world).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ death row killer guy: the series"> 11/01/04 10:22 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
07 November 2004
Chron eye for the death row killer guy - cont'd
It's time for another installment of Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy.
For a while now, we've been noticing that the anti-death-penalty Chronicle has a tendency sympathetically to cover death row killers about to be executed.
The usual formula is along the lines of pointing out some nice quality of the killer (for example, keeping poetry in prison), some bad quality of his childhood (perceived or real), and the problems at HPD and its crime lab (whether relevant or not to the killer being discussed).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ death row killer guy - cont'd"> 11/07/04 09:55 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
03 January 2005
Chron eye for the death row killer guy - cont'd
We got a little nervous there for a while, but the Chronicle didn't disappoint.
The paper came through today with the latest installment of Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy.
Now, they did something unusual, in that they ran AP copy rather than putting one of their own reporters on it.
However, the AP reporter (inadvertently) did such a fine job adhering to the Chron Eye formula that apparently a Chron writeup wasn't necessary.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ death row killer guy - cont'd"> 01/03/05 11:17 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
21 August 2005
Chron eye for the death row killer gal
The anti-death-penalty Chronicle starts early with today's Chron Eye on a killer not scheduled to die until September 14.
As protesters take to the streets and attorneys launch late-in-the-day efforts to save her from the executioner's needle, Frances Newton's capital murder case promises to pack an emotional punch rarely felt in Texas, a state that leads the nation in putting killers to death.
Newton, 40, is scheduled to die Sept. 14 for fatally shooting her husband and two young children in April 1987 to claim $100,000 in death benefits. She would be the third woman — and the first black woman — to be executed in the state since the Civil War. Her execution would be the 349th since Texas executions resumed in 1982.
Newton and her supporters consistently have proclaimed her innocence, but state and federal courts have on at least 10 occasions rejected motions filed on the Harris County woman's behalf.
With those facts established, most of the rest of the story clearly is intended to provide a forum for defense attorneys and activists looking to stop the execution.
The Chronicle devoted three reporters to this Chron Eye, weeks before the execution is scheduled.
Expect Mr. Kathryn Kase's newspaper to keep pushing hard on this one.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ death row killer gal"> 08/21/05 09:17 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
04 June 2005
Return of the Chron Eye!
Several readers have emailed to make sure we didn't miss today's return of the Chron Eye For The Death Row Killer Guy.
The Chron Eye is the newspaper's recurring effort to portray death-row killers sympathetically. Here's a quick refresher on the Chron Eye formula:
The usual formula is along the lines of pointing out some nice quality of the killer (for example, keeping poetry in prison), some bad quality of his childhood (perceived or real), and the problems at HPD and its crime lab (whether relevant or not to the killer being discussed).
Today's Chron Eye arguably only hits one of the three, unless one wants to count the death row killer guy's tattoos as a "nice quality" (and Chronicle writer Allan Turner does seem strangely enamored):
The blue prison tattoos on Alex Martinez's arms and torso, as intense in imagery as anything on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, tell the story of his life. Somewhere, surely, are references to his wretched childhood, the endless beatings and psychological abuse.
But it's the tombstones, macabre tributes to the women whose throats he slashed, that are most chilling.
"Maria," reads one, referring to Maria Martinez, the stepmother who miraculously survived his brutal attack in August 2001. "To be continued."
The second cuts to the heart of what brought the 28-year-old one-time Houston fast-food worker to death row. Beneath the inscription, "RIP," are a date, a woman's name and the sum, "$300." Seemingly cryptic, the tattoo is a crude ink-and-skin memorial to South Houston prostitute Helen Joyce Oliveros, who, on Aug. 12, 2001, was murdered by Martinez during a squabble over her fee.
Nice guy. Note also the author's assumptions in the lede of a wretched childhood that included abuse, something actually not established (and perhaps contradicted) in the story later:
Martinez's adoptive mother, Velma Griffin, who raised the child from 15 months to nine years, when her marriage ended in divorce, denied all the abuse allegations. Today, she prays for him and hopes his life will be spared. She routinely attempts to visit him on death row, though on each occasion he has rebuffed her, silently returning to his cell when he determines the identity of his visitor.
"I feel very sad," she said. "I cry all the way home. I have to sit in the car five to 10 minutes to compose myself. I just wanted him to know that somebody loves him."
Griffin said Martinez's early years showed promise — as a Boy Scout he was selected to address the Texas Senate. But after the divorce, when she gave up custody of her four children to her ex-husband, "his life just fell apart."
Martinez said the situation hardly improved when his adoptive father remarried. His stepmother, he asserted, intensely disliked him and worked to alienate his father.
"She wouldn't do anything," he said. "She'd wait until my dad came home, and he'd hit me hard."
Martinez's father, stepmother and siblings could not be located for comment.
By the time Martinez dropped out of the ninth grade, he was a steady inhaler of spray paint fumes and similar substances. His adolescence and young adulthood were marked by continual violent skirmishes — only during three years was he free of the criminal-justice system, records show.
"I always looked at it like everybody owed me something," Martinez said. "My mentality was not giving a damn. I couldn't see myself in the world for some reason. I was mad all the time. ... I always thought that I could go right someday. I always thought that things would work out for the best. And all the time I was getting further in the hole."
It sounds like this Death Row Killer Guy seems to be acknowledging his own part in going astray. But that sort of acknowledgment just doesn't fit the Chron Eye "childhood victim" formula, and is buried.
Although the HPD crime lab wasn't involved in this story, there is the obligatory reference to the potential unfairness of it all:
Partly out of fear that he will kill again, partly out of dread of spending his life behind bars, Martinez said in a recent death row interview that he wants to die. To the consternation of his appeals attorney, Houston lawyer Pat McCann, the killer has insisted that all efforts to save his life be halted.
"I think Alexander's life still has value," he said. "I wish he would change his mind."
McCann thinks a key element of the prosecution's case — testimony by his client's Harris County cellmate, Cesar Rios — is faulty.
"This is a case that never should have been a capital case to start with," McCann said. "A lying jailhouse snitch was one of the key elements in making a murder case a capital case. ... If Alexander dies, he'd be dying for a lie. That's not justice."
[snip]
Martinez, in the death row interview, affirmed that he likely would kill again.
It's hard to get that worked up over it. One wonders why so much column space was wasted on this.
We thought Mr. Kathryn Kase's newspaper had abandoned the Chron Eye series, since it's mainly been running AP coverage of death row killer guys about to meet their end lately. Although the series is kind of fun for us -- sort of like Chris Baker's "Debris Game" -- we'd just as soon see it go away.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/04/05 05:55 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
15 February 2006
A new Chron Eye: Clyde Smith Jr.
Another convicted murderer is headed to the Texas death chamber today, and that means it's time for another edition of Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy, in which journalistic ethics the political preferences of editor Jeff Cohen and wife Kathryn Kase concerns of journalistic balance dictate sympathetic portrayals of death-row killer guys.
Today, we learn that the latest death row killer guy had a troubled childhood, a favorite theme when the reporter is unable to find any real redeeming qualities of the death row killer (such as, for example, composition of poetry in prison):
No one from Smith's family will attend. He won't let them.
"He divorced me and he denied me, and I don't have no child, it look like," said his mother, Ruth Maye, who never visited her son in prison.
Maye said she and other family members in Mississippi had planned to go to the execution to see Smith "one last time," and claim his body — which he signed away to an unnamed friend.
Smith, who ran away at age 15, told police he would rather be in jail than in his mother's house.
Maye said she was a good mother to a stubborn child who wouldn't listen to her and got in with the wrong crowd.
"I don't know what happened to him," Maye said.
But according to affidavits filed by some of Smith's five siblings — only two of whom had the same father — Smith, who was no stranger to drugs and alcohol, ran away to escape excessive beatings by both his mother and the five men she married and divorced as they were growing up.
Didn't stay put for long
After spending time on the streets and at a boy's home, Smith moved back to Houston, where he had lived until he was 9, to live with his father, Clyde Smith. His mother warned him that "there ain't nothing left in Texas but death."
Smith's father turned him away, and Jacobs and Bilton were killed about a year later. Smith was 18 years old at the time. The men were only two of the 86 taxicab and livery drivers murdered while on the job nationwide in 1992.
In the 1980s, 15.1 of every 100,000 taxicab drivers lost their lives to murder. Though the murder rate has dropped since the mid-1990s, when cabs were first equipped with emergency alarms and cameras and could be tracked throughout their city routes, a 2000 report by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration revealed that cabdrivers are still 60 times more likely than other workers to be slain on the job.
Smith now says he was only an accessory to the murders and that others pulled the trigger. The three confessions he recorded upon his arrest, he says, were made under pressure from homicide investigators.
Points to violent childhood
While Smith's appellate lawyer does not deny his involvement in the killings, he says his life could have been spared had his trial attorney presented evidence regarding Smith's violent childhood to the jury that sentenced him to death.
"The literature sort of shows that that stuff is important to jurors," attorney F. Clinton Broden said.
"Whether it would've made a difference in this case, I don't know. But he should have had the chance."
In a sworn statement, his trial lawyer said he conducted a complete investigation and found no evidence of any abuse.
But Smith's lawyers have claimed in a string of failed appeals that the trial lawyer's investigation was scant, his client visits infrequent and that he never explained to Smith that his childhood could have helped save his life.
The state rejected Smith's first and most critical appeal, his postconviction writ of habeas corpus, in part because his court-appointed habeas lawyers did not include any evidence that family members would have testified to Smith's history had they been contacted.
By the time Broden obtained that evidence and filed new appeals, it was essentially too late, as higher courts cannot rule on evidence that could have been presented at the state level.
'I did not put you there'
But Assistant District Attorney Lynn Hardaway said it is "highly unlikely" that evidence about his childhood would have spared Smith the death sentence, in light of the overwhelming evidence presented against him.
In contrast, here is the AP's coverage of that aspect of the story (via KHOU-11), which seems sufficient:
In earlier appeals, lawyers pointed out federal judges agreed Smith may have had poor legal help during his trial and that he suffered significant abuse as a child, which they say was not pursued by his trial defense team.
“Nevertheless, ... courts concluded that Smith must shoulder the consequences,” Clint Broden, Smith’s appeals lawyers, said.
[snip]
Smith dropped out of the ninth grade in Laurel, Miss. and once worked as a security guard.
He has four brothers and a sister. From death row, he said the last time he saw a relative was 1991.
He also has a daughter, about 18, who has no contact with him.
“I didn’t want her to be exposed to this,” he said.
Death row killer guy Clyde Smith Jr. will be departing tonight.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/15/06 02:33 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
06 October 2005
Chron/AP eye for the death row killer guy: Ronald Ray Howard
The Chronicle runs an AP dispatch for today's death row killer guy, apparently deciding that neither Allan Turner nor any other staff reporter could very easily rehabilitate the image of one Ronald Ray Howard or explain the outside forces driving his crime; not that the AP reporter didn't try a little bit:
Defense lawyers argued at his trial that Howard's constant exposure to gangsta rap music and its anti-police messages influenced him to pull the trigger.
"He grew up in the ghetto and disliked police and these were his heroes, these rappers ... telling him if you're pulled over, just blast away," his trial attorney, Allen Tanner, recalled last week. "It affected him. That was a totally valid serious defense."
Howard told a grand jury he was listening to "Soulja's Story" by Tupac Shakur before he shot Davidson. The song makes references to a young black male being pulled over by police, remembering Rodney King, then opening fire on an officer.
"I'm not a psychologist," Howard said Wednesday. "So I don't know. I never said: Yes it did or no it didn't. I don't know. But my lawyers thought it could have caused it. And they were trying to justify, put reason, for what I did."
What he did was gun down a state trooper (and father of two) in cold blood during a traffic stop. The jury convicted him after only 40 minutes of deliberation.
Mr. Howard will be departing this world later in the evening.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ death row killer guy: Ronald Ray Howard"> 10/06/05 05:29 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
14 April 2005
Chron eye for the death row killer guy - variation on a theme
Eric Berger pens a variation on the ever popular Chron eye for the death row killer guy theme today, reporting on a study that suggests death row prisoners may experience pain in some circumstances when put to death by lethal injection.
In the interest of equal time, we suggest that Eric Berger next be assigned to troll for studies related to the following:
1) Pain experienced by disabled persons when their feeding tubes are forcibly removed
2) Pain experienced by victims of violent crimes at hands of Death Row Killer Guys (rape, murder, torture and the like).
We're sure Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen will get right on those stories.
UPDATE (5:43 PM): Google News searching on Dr. Koniarias, one of the authors of the study and who is quoted in the story, turns up an interesting selection of how this story has been treated thus far by major media. The first news source (as captured by Google News) to run the story was the Common Dreams Progressive News Wire, which picked up a press release from the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty yesterday. Other U.S. media outlets have picked up various versions of the story. ABC News is running the Reuters version in its health section. Ditto MSNBC. Forbes runs a version in its health section. Ditto the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Washington Times posted a version of the story as part of its UPI wire service.
It seems that not many news editors were attuned enough to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty to devote staff to producing their own version of this story for today's edition, let alone put it on the front page. But then again, that's why we call it the Chron Eye, as opposed to, say, the Dallas Morning News Eye.
UPDATE 2: James Taranto's Best of the Web weighs in with this little blurb:
Problem Solved
"U.S. Executions by Lethal Injection May Not Be Humane"--headline, HealthDay News, April 14
"Experts Say Ending Feeding Can Lead to a Gentle Death"--headline, New York Times, March 20
I doubt Mr. and Mrs. Kathryn Kase are amused.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ death row killer guy - variation on a theme"> 04/14/05 10:29 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (12)
09 November 2006
This Chron Eye is full of...
Laurence Simon noticed a new Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy (courtesy of Rosanna Ruiz).
He then compared it to CNN/AP coverage of the same story.
The interesting results are here.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/09/06 11:27 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
24 January 2005
A disappointing Chron eye
The Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy has gotten off to a very disappointing start in 2005.
The newspaper, which was formulaic in its coverage of death row through the end of 2004, has been willing so far in 2005 to run AP coverage.
Still, today's AP story follows the Chron eye formula pretty well.
There's the attempt to highlight some redeeming quality of the killer:
One of his lawyers, Danalynn Recer, told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times that Kunkle is remorseful for the crime and is "anguished by the effect this is having on his family, particularly his mother."
"He's very concerned about how devastating it's going to be for her," Recer said. "And he's scared."
Then there's the troubled childhood:
Defense lawyers said Kunkle, born in Nuremberg, Germany, where his father was stationed in the military, was raised in a troubled home and left mentally scarred by parents who had been treated for depression.
There's no reference to the HPD crime lab and no cheap shots taken at the Harris County DA, since the original case was tried in Corpus Christi.
Maybe that's the key -- the Chronicle only dispatches its own reporters for the Chron Eye when it's a case that somehow attaches to the HPD crime lab and/or the Harris County DA. Or maybe the Chron just loses track of the executions. Who knows exactly how decisions are made at 801 Texas Avenue?
Mr. Kunkle's departure is scheduled for Tuesday. The execution of George Alarick Jones is scheduled for Thursday (his crime was in Dallas, so we may not get a staff Chron Eye for that one either).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/24/05 10:32 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
10 November 2009
Chron Eye: Yosvanis Valle edition
A CONVICTED MURDERER is set to be executed in Huntsville tonight. Even with its depleted local newsroom, the area newspaper of record was able to put together a new Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy several days ago.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/10/09 10:36 AM | General | Technorati | Comments (2)
08 February 2007
Lone Star Pundit on the latest Chron Eye
Lone Star Pundit noticed a new Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy.
His post is here.
Nice catch, Kyle. Mr. Kathryn Kase must have thought he could sneak that one by in between rounds of golf!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/08/07 06:30 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
28 May 2008
Different sorts of Chron eyes
With the Supreme Court ruling on lethal injection, we expected a steady stream of the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy as the state once again resumed executions.
A couple of recent stories, though, had a different focus. First, there was this one by Rosanna Ruiz:
It was midnight, but Melody Flowers had to get something off her chest.
The single mother of five woke her eldest. "If something should ever happen to me," she whispered to 8-year-old Tameka, "I want you to know that I will always love you all. I want you to be there for your brothers and sisters. Even if you are not able to see me, I'm still with you all."
The next afternoon, the 27-year-old Flowers was dead.
She had been bludgeoned with a claw hammer, raped, strangled and stabbed. Her body was dumped in the partially filled bathtub of her Humble apartment. The lifeless body of her toddler, Patrick, also stabbed, lay on top of her.
Now, 17 years later, memories of the horrific murders and the years that followed came to the fore for her surviving children with word that their mother's killer would be executed.
Derrick Sonnier, who authorities said stalked Flowers for months, was convicted of the Sept. 16, 1991, murders and sentenced to die. On June 3, the 40-year-old will be the first in Texas to be executed since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injections last month.
[snip]
Tameka Traylor, 25, and Sebrina Flowers, 23, Melody Flowers' daughters, plan to witness his execution in Huntsville.
"He took everything from us," said Traylor, now a married mother of four. "Nothing will ever bring Melody and Patrick back or remove all the hurt and pain we had to endure. When he gave them the death sentence, he took the only person that loved us away from us ... and my brother didn't even have a chance to live his life."
Most death row killer guys have torn apart lives beyond their immediate victims.
The second story with a focus on victims also came from Rosanna Ruiz:
Their husbands were their soulmates.
They intended to watch their children grow up, then grow old with their spouses.
If not for the fateful 2006 meeting of their husbands, Joslyn Johnson and Theresa Quintero likely would never have laid eyes on each other.
During a traffic stop, Juan Leonardo Quintero, a landscaper, shot officer Rodney Johnson, 40, seven times, killing him. A Harris County jury last week sentenced Quintero, 34, to life in prison without parole.
While Joslyn Johnson will mourn the loss of her husband for the rest of her life, prison bars will separate Theresa Quintero from hers.
It's not the way either imagined their lives would turn out.
In the courtroom, the two women always sat on opposite sides, just a few feet from one another.
Wrestling with emotions
Joslyn Johnson said the seething anger she managed to staunch before the trial resurfaced the moment she locked eyes with Juan Quintero."I just wanted to jump over there and choke him," she said.
Theresa Quintero wrestled with different emotions. She wanted to slap the man she married in 1997 but also embrace him.
The emotionalism doesn't really appeal to me (then again, I'm not part of the demographic to which it's supposed to appeal), but the focus on the victims is unusual for the Chronicle.
Maybe the old Chron Eyes have been retired. We certainly hope that's the case.
BLOGVERSATION: Texas Digital Epitaph.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/28/08 10:08 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
30 December 2004
Missing the Chron eye
The state of Texas is scheduled to execute confessed murderer James Scott Porter on January 4, 2005.
There still has been no installment of the Chron Eye For The Death Row Killer Guy devoted to Mr. Porter, so we thought we'd post this little reminder for our friends at 801 Texas Avenue (since it seems like the newspaper is being manned by a skeleton holiday crew at the moment).
We like to do our part to keep the local media lively.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/30/04 10:40 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
28 February 2006
Friedman testifies for (twice) convicted murderer
Kinky Friedman's foray into alternative marketing political campaign took an odd turn today, as Friedman testified in the sentencing phase of the trial of (twice) convicted murderer Max Soffar:
Prosecutor Lyn McClellan objected throughout the 10-minute testimony.
McClellan said Friedman's participation in the trial was nothing but a publicity stunt. He said Friedman did not offer any mitigating evidence to the trial that would explain to jurors Soffar's behavior.Friedman, who wrote to Soffar while he was on death row, has said he believes that Soffar is innocent and has been wrongly convicted.
"I said he had a higher innocence. He had an earned innocence, an achieved innocence like a guy who comes back from Iraq or Vietnam -- from a war. He's struggled with his demons and he's conquered them," Friedman said.
Once his political campaign flames out, Friedman should apply for a gig writing the Chron Eye For The Death Row Killer Guy!
Friedman said he met Soffar while writing an article for Texas Monthly magazine. He interviewed Soffar and exchanged letters with him during his years on death row.
Although he used to support the death penalty, Friedman told jurors he's now against it.
Perhaps the Chronicle reporting tomorrow will let us know whether Kathryn Kase, defense attorney and wife of Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen, wept over Friedman's testimony.
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE: KHOU-11.
UPDATE (03-01-2006): Here is the Chronicle's coverage.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/28/06 08:23 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
25 January 2009
Stay the execution of Larry Ray Swearingen (updated)
We've had some fun over the years with the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy, which was once the anti-death-penalty Houston Chronicle's formulaic portrayal of every single cold-blooded killer who was scheduled to meet his end in Huntsville.
To its credit, the newspaper has largely stopped the practice of hagiographic features on the worst of the worst in Texas. Who knows, maybe they grew tired of the mockery.
Unfortunately, their credibility and honesty on the issue have long since been squandered. And so, not many people take the newspaper's struggling Editorial Board, or its Teen Diarist, seriously when both say that a Texas man is about to be executed for a terrible crime that new evidence (or reinterpretation of old evidence) suggests he probably did not commit.
This time, the newspaper is right. The Editorial Board and the Teen Diarist (and others) make a convincing case that enough doubt has been raised about Larry Ray Swearingen's guilt that he should be granted a stay
As our mockery of past Chron Eyes should make clear, we don't have much sympathy for the truly guilty, worst of the worst in the state of Texas. But it's no laughing matter when serious, evidence-based questions, are raised about the guilt of a man sentenced to die (on Tuesday).
It's the most serious penalty the state can impose. Irreversible. Final.
The first time the state demonstrably gets it wrong will likely be the last. This could very well be that instance. Why take the chance?
Larry Ray Swearingen isn't going anywhere. There is time enough to make sure we -- because "we" are the state -- have it right. Or that we do not.
Err on the side of life and delay this execution.
UPDATE (01-26-2009): The Dallas Morning News reports that the Fifth Circuit has ordered a stay. This should allow yet another look at the evidence and another round of arguments from defense and prosecutors alike. It is important to get this right.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/25/09 11:19 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
09 October 2005
Less Casey and idealists, more hard news = higher ratings
Chronicle metro/state editorialist and gossip columnist Rick Casey unsurprisingly misses the obvious in these observations about a recent poll on attitudes and Hurricane Rita:
Just over half (52 percent) declared media coverage of Rita to be "excellent." Another 30 percent called us "good."
Only 15 percent said we were "fair" or "poor," and a minuscule 2.6 percent expressed no opinion.
[snip]
It's one thing to praise politicians who take charge, but an 80 percent favorable rating toward the media is almost un-American these days.
Especially when you consider that Republicans, for many of whom "liberal media" is one word, made up the largest portion (34 percent) of those polled. 27 percent were Democrats, and 19 percent independents.
[snip]
Maybe the stellar ratings of the media can be explained by the fact that covering the advance of a swirling hurricane truly is, unlike the self-advertised television show, a no-spin zone.
Here's a simple (and obvious) explanation: The high ratings are likely a result of the fact that during Rita, most of the local media focused on reporting facts (even though some people contend some facts were hyped), and there was really little time for or attention devoted to such questionable journalistic fare as Rick Casey's gossip columns or ripping off the work of real reporters without proper attribution, or Chron Eyes for the Death Row Killer Guy, or Chronicle editorial nonsense.
Before Rick Casey is injured patting himself and his colleagues on the back, though, it's worth keeping in mind that the local media were hardly perfect in their hurricane coverage, as illustrated by Kristin Finan's impersonation of an evacuee at the George R. Brown following Katrina, a stupid stunt from the features STAR crew that reflected poorly and unfairly on Chronicle news reporters, who did a good job gathering hard news during both hurricanes.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/09/05 06:39 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (0)
24 April 2008
Another Chronicle story missing facts
Mike Tolson gives us this Houston Chronicle piece about a convicted cop killer Anthony Haynes who is trying to play the race card to get out of his murder conviction. The centerpiece to this story is this one liner;
Federal courts have become increasingly sensitive to Texas defendants asserting race as a factor in jury selection.
However, two facts are not included in this story. This is how Mr. Tolson describes the murder of Houston Police Sergeant Kent Kinkaid;
The circumstances surrounding Kincaid's death were unusual. He was driving with his wife in his personal car when Haynes drove past him and appeared to toss something that hit and cracked his windshield. Kincaid, who was not in uniform, followed Haynes until he stopped. When Kincaid approached the car, he identified himself and reached behind him, supposedly for his badge. Haynes, the son of a Houston Fire Department arson investigator, then shot him with a pistol.
There are two problems with this: the first problem is that the object the convicted murderer tossed was a bullet. As stated, Sgt. Kinkaid's wife was in the car and watched Haynes shoot her husband. One of the paramedics on the scene told me his wife couldn't even remember her own name when they were trying to interview her; second, Haynes was in the middle of a robbery spree. Sgt. Kinkaid unfortunately stopped the man at the wrong time. I found a 2001 article that Tolson wrote about convicted murderer Anthony Haynes. Mr. Tolson titled it "Borderline Cases Raise Questions About Death Penalty." This is what Mr. Tolson wrote back then:
Once upon a time he was a model kid whose nickname was Sunshine. Now he frowns much of the time and is bitter over the recent events of his life. A couple of years on death row will do that to you.
Anthony Haynes has no one else to blame, of course. He didn't have to get involved with drugs or the dangerous crowd they often attract.
He did not have to participate in a brief robbery spree in May 1998.
And God knows he did not have to shoot police Sgt. Kent Kincaid. Drunk on the power of a gun and the arrogance of youth, he alone was responsible for his decision, and the series of bad decisions that led to it.
Of course, one is entitled to an anti-death penalty opinion; however, as usual, Chronicle reporters have taken the wrong "poster boy case" without giving its readers all the facts in order to make its point.
Posted by Jason @ 04/24/08 09:54 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
04 December 2005
A busy death-penalty week for the Chron
Look who made an appearance in a death-penalty column in the Chronicle this week:
Texas' method of executing capital murderers could come under scrutiny in a courtroom as the result of what some legal observers call a precedent-setting ruling by a federal judge in Houston.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes this month denied a motion by the state Attorney General's Office to dismiss death row inmate Charles Raby's lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of lethal injection on the grounds that it is cruel and unusual punishment.
Raby's lawyer says the judge's ruling has cleared the way for Raby to gain access to state documents and employees in an effort to prove that the chemicals used in the lethal injection process cause a condemned killer to "suffer an excruciatingly painful and protracted death."
"As far as I know, this is the first (lethal injection challenge) case in Texas where the motion to dismiss has not been granted," said Kevin Mohr, Raby's attorney.
Kathryn Kase, a representative of the Texas Defender Service, which provides legal counsel to several Texas death row inmates, agrees with Mohr's assessment.
"To my knowledge, there is no court in Texas that has let it get this far," said Kase, who is married to Houston Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen. "This is a very, very important ruling."
One would have thought that Steve McVicker might have been able to find someone else to quote, but there you have it.
Jeff Cohen's newspaper has been busy with the death penalty this week. Gossip columnist Rick Casey was dispatched to drive home the impression that an innocent man has been executed in Texas:
I want to make one thing clear. [Bexar County District Attorney Susan] Reed is not just focused on going after Moreno. Before she mentioned him in our Friday conversation, she said, "If your story is correct and (Cantu) is innocent, that means there is another murderer out there."
And she told reporter Olsen that if the story is correct, it demonstrates a nonfunctioning justice system.
While that's a nice clarification from Casey, the fact is he spends most of his column focused on what Reed will do if indeed Cantu was innocent. The story leaves the impression that of course he was innocent -- now all that matters is what is to be done about it. In reality, Cantu's innocence has yet to be determined -- something the Chronicle's reporters, editorialists, and even gossip columnists need to keep in mind.
UPDATE (12-05-2005): Owen Courreges posts some very good questions about the Cantu affair.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ death-penalty week for the Chron"> 12/04/05 08:52 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
25 August 2005
Chron eye for the death row killer gal - 2
Just a few days ago, the Chronicle ran a Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Gal on Frances Newton, who is scheduled to be executed on September 14.
We noted that Mr. Kathryn Kase's newspaper was starting early with its anti-death-penalty advocacy this time, and that probably was an indication that we'd get many more Chron Eyes on Newton.
Today, there's a new Chron Eye about Newton. Here's an excerpt of the effort to humanize Newton:
Along with his drug usage, Adrian Newton's infidelity and his contrite confessions and pledges to reform were hallmarks of the couple's marriage. On the day of the killings, Newton said, the couple had reconciled and agreed to eschew extramarital affairs.
Newton, who became pregnant with the couple's first child at 14, said she loved her husband and children.
Occasionally pausing to wipe away tears, Newton recalled that Alton was "definitely all boy" and often protected his younger sister.
She recalled one incident in which the little girl mischievously took single bites out of apples displayed in a fruit bowl.
"Alton took the apples and turned the bite marks to the back so I wouldn't see what she had done," Newton recalled. "Farrah was very loving."
The substantive portion of the story focuses on a theory advanced by defense attorneys about the presence of a second gun, which Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal characterizes as pure fiction.
The story also includes hearsay in support of the arguments advanced by defense attorneys:
Dow said the parents of Newton's husband have voiced support for stopping the execution, but that claim could not be verified Wednesday.
The attorney also said a one-time prisoner in the Harris County Jail, a former husband of one of Newton's cousins, claimed that another prisoner boasted of killing the family. Dow conceded that claim has not been verified.
So, it's unverified gossip. But hey, this is Mr. Kathryn Kase's newspaper -- if it helps the anti-death-penalty cause, why not disregard journalistic standards and run with it?
Unsurprisingly, the story completely ignored one salient bit of news in this case from yesterday. As the Dallas Morning News reported,
The Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday rejected claims that Ms. Newton was ineffectively represented at trial and ruled that re-testing of the skirt would not establish her innocence.
The Associated Press, LA Times and the New York Times also reported the Court of Criminal Appeals ruling that the Chronicle ignored.
Will the newspaper manage a third Chron Eye on Newton in Sunday's edition, or will the next effort be some sort of smear of Chuck Rosenthal's office by Metro/State editorialist and gossip columnist Rick Casey? Stay tuned.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ death row killer gal - 2"> 08/25/05 06:11 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (4)
23 February 2007
A new, but different, Chron eye!
We've frequently pointed out the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy, the anti-death-penalty Houston Chronicle's ongoing effort to focus sympathy on criminals who have been sentenced to die in the state of Texas.
Today, Matt Bramanti found and forwarded us an unusual variant on the theme: The Chron Eye for the Anti-War Army Deserter Guy!
Several of the familiar Chron Eye rhetorical devices are present. There's the effort to portray the "victim" as a good guy:
Wilkerson hoped to avoid a prison term after fellow soldiers testified he had an outstanding service record during a yearlong stint as a military policeman in Iraq in 2004.
[snip]
"I think he's brave," said Iraq Veterans Against the War Executive Director Kelly Dougherty. "Everyone has to make their own decision, of course."
And there's the obligatory reference to a troubled childhood:
Wilkerson traced his woes to childhood, when, he said, he witnessed his stepfather killing his mother's male companion and attempting to kill his mother.
When the stepfather committed suicide about two years later, Wilkerson said he internalized the trauma, which thrust him into the role of peacemaker in his troubled family. Later he said he grew interested in the anti-violence movement after the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.
There's no reference to the HPD Crime Lab for obvious reasons, but otherwise the story follows the Chron Eye formula pretty faithfully.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/23/07 11:30 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
20 March 2005
Carnival of the Cats is one year old!
We have covered the Carnival of the Cats before, when the New York Times and Time Magazine reported on it. The Carnival just happens to be organized by local blogger Laurence Simon. Well, today is the Carnival of the Cats' first anniversary, and it's going strong, filled with all kinds of purry, fluffy kitty wonders. (Check out Edloe in her tiara!)
I keep wondering when the Chronicle will do a little something (or a big something) on the Carnival of the Cats, since Houston's Daily Information Source doesn't have to travel far to get the story. Maybe if Laurence were to take some pictures of Edloe on MetroRail, or take Nardo on a tour to meet some death row killer guys -- you know, to show a convicted killer's softer side -- maybe then the Chronicle would write up a nice piece on the Carnival.
But regardless of that, blogHOUSTON sends along congratulations on one year of feline fun.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/20/05 09:16 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (2)
08 March 2005
Chron editorial board values some life
Earlier, Anne Linehan called attention to the Chronicle editorial urging the killing of people who become so inconvenient they can't feed themselves.
However, we do have to concede that there was indeed balance on the editorial page and even among the house editorials today.
That pro-death editorial was matched with a pro-life editorial of sorts:
Last week's tragic killing of an Italian intelligence officer and the wounding of the captive journalist he had freed was but the latest in a series of fatal encounters between U.S. troops and vehicles carrying innocent passengers, including Iraqi civilians and security personnel. The suggestion by freed Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena that her shooting might have been deliberate is absurd. Lack of communication and the fog of war are almost certainly the culprits. But the U.S. forces at an impromptu checkpoint fired in error.
The latest bloodshed provides a dispiriting reminder that two years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the main artery between downtown Baghdad and the airport remains unsecured and one of the most dangerous places in the world. However, following the success of the Iraqi elections, and with the resultant air of imminent self-government, the terrorists seem to be losing the all-important battle for hearts and minds. To make sure the insurgents continue to lose the sympathy of the Iraqi people, U.S. forces must use extreme caution in engaging unidentified moving targets.
According to this report in Newsday, the troops in queston claim they did not fire in error, but fired in complete accord with established rules of engagement, and shot to disable the vehicle by targeting the engine block. The Chron editorial effectively asserts they are lying.
The broader point of the Chron editorialists seems to be that innocent journalists must be spared at almost any cost, even if the vehicle of a given journalist speeds recklessly to a checkpoint in a country that still suffers from car and other bombs intended to kill U.S. soldiers.
It's revealing what life the Chron editorial board values (potential terrorists, death row killer guys) and what life it does not (U.S. soldiers, impaired people who cannot feed themselves, babies in the womb).
RELATED: Italy didn't plan safe escape for hostage (Rowan Scarborough, Washington Times), Run a well-marked checkpoint with armed troops, get shot (Laurence Simon).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/08/05 11:37 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
10 December 2006
Chron profiles animal rescue group
The Chron dispatched Allan Turner to profile one of Houston's many animal rescue organizations, Scout's Honor:
Since its start in May, the Houston volunteer group has rescued at least 150 animals from extreme peril. More than 100 of them have been placed in loving homes. But even with the success of Scout's Honor and similar volunteer groups around the city, the need is never met. "There's a need for 100 groups to do this in the Houston area," said President Dana Dicker. "There are just more animals than there are rescuers."
Scout's Honor, named after a rescued spaniel mix who did not survive, consists of six core members and a citywide network of volunteers and temporary caretakers.
The group's founders, Dicker said, previously worked with other rescue groups, some of which were selective in which breeds would be saved. Scout's Honor accepts all comers.
"We do not discriminate in breed, age, health or injuries," she said.
Discriminate? That's a strangely pejorative term to use just after lamenting that the city needs more rescue groups. The fact is, the city could use more animal rescue groups. But there are also many existing groups that have been doing fine rescue work for many years (not just since May), some of which specialize in rescuing and placing certain breeds for adoption. It probably was not Ms. Dicker's intent to slight them with her comment, but it sort of came off that way.
Incidentally, the second paragraph of this profile was strange:
It's about those other dogs and cats, the luckless, the abandoned, sick or tortured, who struggle simply to survive. It's about those animals that would wish — if animals were capable of wishing — simply to die and be done with the pain.
If animals were capable of wishing? Okay!
Turner sometimes pens installments of the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy, so maybe he just couldn't help himself.
But, it's nice to see animal rescue work get some media attention in any case.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/10/06 10:12 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
23 February 2005
Chron eye for the homeless (alleged) arsonist guy
Burke died while battling a blaze in a structure that has been characterized as an abandoned crack house.
Police have arrested a vagrant, one Jack Cordua, who is suspected of starting the blaze. Arson investigators have stated that they believe Cordua started the blaze while trying to light a crack pipe.
One would think that today's news coverage might have been devoted to Captain Burke or to the ongoing investigation.
But the Chronicle, in an apparent effort to be "evenhanded," saw fit to break out a new feature that we're dubbing The Chron Eye For The Homeless (Alleged) Arsonist Guy (keeping in line with another series). Much like their Death Row Killer Guy series, the Chron goes to great lengths to portray this vagrant and accused arsonist sympathetically:
Arson investigators say Cordua lit a small fire so he could see his crack pipe, but it blazed out of control.
From the Harris County Jail Tuesday, Cordua told a different story.
He admitted he did light a small fire in a glass bowl that cracked, but said he snuffed it out with his fingers.
"I put out all the little embers," he said. "I could see them in the dark. By the time I left, there were no flames, no embers, not even any smoke left."
Cordua said he saw people running toward the house as he walked away.
"Anybody else could have started that fire. I'm being railroaded. I'm being crucified," he said.
[snip]
Behind the glass at 1200 Baker Street, Cordua leaned on a crutch, his left arm in a sling and a collarbone bulging beneath the skin. He had not shaved in days.
He seemed a different person in early November, after a free breakfast provided by a homeless program operated by Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church that was the subject of a Chronicle story. Then he was relatively clean and neatly dressed, and he said he was looking forward to Thanksgiving and the possibility of seeing his mother and three brothers.
Who knew the vagrant the Chron was celebrating in November would be suspected of arson connected to a firefighter's death just a few months later?
Obviously, there's no way the newspaper could have known then what would transpire months later. However, they might have had better sense than to run this new Chron Eye on the day this city honored Captain Burke.
UPDATE: Another curious part of the same story is the effective reproduction of a press release from Michael Cordua, brother of the alleged arsonist:
Michael Cordua released a short statement: "As does every Houstonian, my family sends our condolences to the Burke family. As for my brother, I care about him very much. He came to Houston only about two years ago and has never been involved in the business."
How accommodating of the Chronicle to give Cordua an opportunity to point out the alleged arsonist has never been affiliated with the Cordua restaurants (Churrascos, Americas and the Amazon Grill for those who are wondering). It's a crassly opportunistic press release indeed that can weave together sympathy for the late Captain Burke, sympathy for one's brother, AND attempt to protect the family business from any association with the tragedy.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/23/05 03:15 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
31 March 2005
Groups fret over Taser usage; Chronicle hops to attention
The Chronicle's Roma Khanna -- who has done yeoman's work for Jeff Cohen in exposing the shocking fact that HPD officers have actually had to use their guns when dealing with bad guys, and in doing makeovers of death row killer guys -- has a story today about Tasers being disproportionately used on minorities:
Houston police officers used Tasers on minorities in almost 90 percent of the incidents in which they shocked people in recent months, prompting civil rights groups Wednesday to call for tighter controls on the use of the stun guns.
Leaders from the ACLU, LULAC and NAACP requested a meeting with Police Chief Harold Hurtt to express concern about officers' use of the 50,000-volt alternative weapons since the police department bought 3,700 of them last year.
Officers stunned people with Tasers in 144 incidents between Dec. 3 and March 10, according to the department, shocking blacks or Hispanics in 125 cases, or 87 percent.
"It always seems that the minorities are the first to get a taste of something like this," said Sylvia Gonzalez, director of the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. "We are very concerned."
Executive Assistant Police Chief Charles McClelland said, however, that the racial breakdown on Taser use mirrors statistics of other police interaction with minorities.
"The Taser itself is not a racial device," he said. "Officers' decision to deploy the Taser is based on the suspects' behavior and the officers' training."
In police shootings throughout the county, however, about 70 percent of people shot from 1999 through August 2004 were minorities, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis.
I don't know why, but I am constantly amazed at "professional" journalists' inability to do any critical thinking. Does Khanna really think that HPD officers specifically target minorities? REALLY?
The Chronicle was supportive when HPD purchased Tasers to use as an alternative to guns. Are we now seeing another crusade, to completely disarm law enforcement? We've asked this before, but what exactly would the Chronicle like HPD to do when faced with bad guys? Hand them a cookie? Give them a gift certificate? Maybe a teddy bear? WHAT should HPD do?
And let's not forget what happened when the Chronicle's editorial board was invited to test a law enforcement training simulator:
Earlier this year, Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal invited members of the editorial board to the basement of the Harris County Court House to experience the Shoot/Don’t Shoot Course – a state-of-the-art virtual reality program used to train law enforcement officers how to deal with a variety of simulated, life-threatening scenarios. According to those who witnessed the exercise, a majority of the editorial board members “killed” both innocent citizens and unarmed suspects. One reportedly shot a child – and was, understandably, so upset by their decision they could not continue the course.
Split-second decision-making, in potentially life-threatening situations, is not easy.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/31/05 10:34 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (5)
21 March 2005
Feeling our way through the end of life
In what has turned out to be an increasingly popular post in light of recent events, we criticized a recent Houston Chronicle editorial for what seemed like a callously indifferent regard for innocent (albeit impaired) life.
In that editorial, the Chronicle trumpeted a Texas law in which hospitals may decide to terminate care of certain patients without regard to the wishes of relatives:
Texas law is considered among the most progressive in the nation and was designed to keep such cases out of court. It requires a hospital's ethics committee to approve a doctor's recommendations to remove life support if the patient's family or guardian disagrees. If the committee concurs, the hospital must wait 10 days before shutting off support in order to give the family time to seek an alternative institution willing to provide such care. The latest Texas cases occurred when no institution could be found to take over care of the patients.
This is touted by the same newspaper that gives us the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy as equitable, humane, and -- yes -- progressive.
Today, environmental writer Dina Cappiello weighs in to tell us this Texas law wouldn't "help" in the Terri Schiavo case. That's readily apparent, since the Schiavo case revolves around two parties competing to decide her care (with one working to terminate care) and courts trying to divine her intent without the benefit of a written directive, while the two Texas cases revolve around hospitals making decisions to terminate care against the wishes of family. Indeed, Cappiello later admits the law itself didn't actually help in the case of one Spiro Nikolouzos:
Nikolouzos' brain damage, on the other hand, is so severe he cannot breathe on his own or move, according to Dr. David Pate, St. Luke's chief medical officer. Over his wife's objections, the hospital's ethics committee decided to remove his breathing tube, setting in motion the 10-day period in which his family could move him to another hospital under the 1999 law.
A judge extended that period as the family tried to find another facility.
His wife ultimately did find another facility willing to take him on, but the law strictly interpreted didn't help him -- rather, a compassionate judge who had doubts about terminating the man after ten days granted enough extra time for the man's family to have him treated as they desired.
There's been some back and forth on various blogs as to whether the Schiavo affair merited federal intervention, especially given the existence of this Texas law signed by then-Governor Bush in 1999, and whether some parties are being hypocritical. Readers are welcome check out this blog post, to follow the links, and draw their own conclusions on that.
We've been consistent (since March 8) in our criticism of that original Chronicle editorial for the seeming ease with which the editors advocate state sanction for the termination of innocent life based on the judgment of "experts." When I was an undergraduate in Missouri, the "right to die" issue presented itself forcefully in the case of Nancy Cruzan. It's only 15 years later, and unsurprisingly we're still feeling our way through the legal and ethical issues involved in deciding about the end of life. In my mind, this Texas law does need to be revisited, in order more properly to balance the rights and desires of family members against medical corporations, and as Anne put it previously, to err on the side of innocent life.
UPDATE (03-22-2005): The Chronicle editorial linked above has vanished (despite working last night), and the newspaper does not archive its editorials. Fortunately, the google cache still has it (and my furl archive if that stops working).
UPDATE 2 (03-22-2005): Apparently, editorials are now archived, and are accessible if you have access to the archives. The google cache works as well.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/21/05 10:08 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)
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