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 | Print | Comments (4)
Previous Entry | Home | Next Entry
ADVERTISING
DISCLAIMER
All content © 2004-09, blogHOUSTON and the respective authors.
blogHOUSTON.net is powered by Nucleus.
Site design and Nucleus customization are by Kevin Whited.