Texas governor spares life of getaway driver
Given Texas’ legal and political culture, and given Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) penchant for the death penalty, this is quite a surprise.
Gov. Rick Perry accepted a parole board recommendation Thursday to spare condemned inmate Kenneth Foster, the getaway driver in a 1996 murder who had been scheduled for execution within hours. [...]
Foster was convicted of murder and sentence to death under Texas’ law of parties, which makes non-triggermen equally accountable for a crime. Another condemned man was executed under the same statute earlier this year.
“After carefully considering the facts of this case, along with the recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, I believe the right and just decision is to commute Foster’s sentence from the death penalty to life imprisonment,” Perry said in a statement.
Be sure to read Digby’s take on why today’s developments offer a “glimmer of hope.”
Republicans ... soft on crime.
There was a large blog push on this one. Essentially, had they executed him, it would have been against the law. So they were ADHERING to the law, for a change.
Read up on the case, you'll see what I mean.
Well, I can't stand old Governer "Good Hair" Perry, but this seems like it was a good decision considering the facts of the case. Oh, and I am Pro-Death penalty in most murder cases.
Big of him. Good ole Texas, outpacing every other state in executions.
Yea, this is the first time Gov good hair has done anything right, unfortunately, it's for some so mindblowingly obviously to everyone else in the civilized world.
So, which one of this guy's relatives is a Perry bootlicker?
Should have let the piece of shit fry.
The Truth Hurts @ 7:
The story is that his FRIEND, the passenger, was the one that committed the murder. That man has already been executed. The driver had no idea what his friend was doing while he waited in the car, so the descriptor 'getaway driver' is misleading at best.
The law that was used to sentence him to death is meant to be applied to misdemeanor cases, not murder trials. So justice was served with this decision.
I'm curious to know what defines this innocent man as a 'piece of shit'.
dont worry...
texas will be executing another innocent all in good time
The Truth Hurts @ 7:
...said the 'Compassionate Conservative'
You're lost. Here's the way home --> The Nuthouse!
Ronin Tetsuro @ 8:
Right, he had no idea what was going on. He was just waiting in the car so he could drive to church. Or was it to go read books to blind. I forget which one. Just another guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thin the herd and let him fry.
What a crappy law. I'm walking down the street and the guy next to me stabs someone to death and I get the death sentence? Why not, I was there, even though I didn't know either person and had nothing to do with it. Leave it to Texas, there can never be enough killing for some people.
The Truth Hurts @ 11:
You learn that attitude in church? It ain't right to kill people.
Yup, completely innocent. Had no idea what was going on. He dropped off a complete stranger...had no idea what that stranger was doing....waited for that stranger....and drove off with him, still completely oblivious to what was going on.
Thanks for clearing that up.
I'll say this really slow, because most people here are challenged.....thin the herd and let him fry.
The Truth Hurts
did you read the case, or do you just enjoy sitting in mama's basement waiting for the right time to troll on lib blogs
The Truth Hurts @ 7:
Even an asshole Governor of Texas doesn't agree with you. Think.
Uncle Joe,
Put down the bong and go find a job.
The Truth Hurts @ 17:
Uncle Joe--
Here's a translation of the above response to your question asking Troll Hurts if he knows the facts of the case: "No."
good for the gov. good for him.
[Try to make your point without insult or namecalling. Shouldn't be too difficult for someone as clever as you, eh? -- Sitemonitor]
The Truth Hurts @ 17:
Some of us can pick up the bong and still hold a job. I'm guessing you do neither, but probably need both.
This is a classic example of why there should be life in prison, no parole, just hard work for these guys.
There is just no standard of consistency for capital cases resulting in the Death Penalty. If you have a Death Penalty and you want to enforce it, isn't this guy, who was a participant in a capital crime (which in Texas means he is responsible too) supposed to die? I definitely think so.
I oppose the Death Penalty, for a lot of reasons.
I find the arbitrariness in administering the Death Penalty to be appalling.
The Truth Hurts @ 14:
Pathetic.
I guess Perry felt sympathetic, since he's helped Bush's murder of one million Iraqis.
looks like someone is worrying about their political future(job)....all political.
straight shooter @ 23:
agreed.....a pathetic simpleton..........just so you know.....he wasn't the triggerman.....that does not constitute the death penalty........only child molesting child killers should get the DP.....imo.....and only when they confess to such a horrible crime.
You'll have to speak faster.....your slurring your words.........but that's to be expected.
i am pro death penalty, but only in very extremely narrow circumstances (three witnesses to the murder along with indisputable video evidence of the person doing the deed). i have no idea if there was sufficient evidence for the shooter to get the death penalty according to my standards, but someone who has no connection to the crime, other than he was the getaway man, doesn't warrant the needle.
and by the way, he wasn't necisserily innocent that night either. reports are that he had participated in a robbery earlier that night.
straight shooter @ 23:
It would be better to thin the herd of people who clearly don't know what they're talking about, who resort to kneejerk arguments and sarcasm instead of engaging in honest debate about a very serious subject. By the way, Texas doesn't use the electric chair, it employs lethal injection. Do try to learn some facts before spewing your rhetoric.
I'm the other Straight Shooter, but I agree: Pathetic.
This was the only reasonable decision to be made. He was finally forced to bend to the pressure of the people. This is one of the few Texas death row inmates that has had really strong grass roots support across socio-economic lines. To kill this man would have been an absolute offense to law and justice. "Good Hair" Perry did the right thing..yes I said it...in this case.
Truth & Beauty
Thin the heard and let him fry? Yup! Killin' teaches that killin's wrong. No better teacher than Irony.
I believe you meant to say most people here challenge you.
mudshark @ 26:
Comment number 8 sums it up very well. The moderator on this site should check the story instead of allowing a summary that gives the wrong impression about the facts of the case. There has been world wide outrage about this and politically influential people across the globe have been stating that the death penalty is absurd and morally reprehensible in this case.
I bet the truth hurts calls himself a Christian, just like Georgey boy... funny how nowadays you don't have to read The Bible or know any of its teachings to take on that labeling.
And just on a personal note, the two-party political ideological banter is absurd. Its a grande game that seems to be going according to plan... divide and conquer... granted that the right has a huge heaping of repressed wackos, its set up that way and a two party system is one step away from... oh wait, we're already there.
I'm quite disappointed. Foster should have been dead long ago. This governor has no idea what he is doing. Death row in Texas needs to cleared out, even if it means the executioners need to work three shifts a day.
suprise, suprise
Through the 'law of parties' Bush sr, Rumsfeld and co are all just as guilty as Saddam and Osama.
@OT:
How can you sentence someone for something they did not do, did not know about or could not presume might happen.
If he knew his friend was going to rob someone at gunpoint and the friend killed the man, then he should be convicted of manslaughter.
4 Men were in a car. Some of them had committed armed robbery already. Foster had the bad judgment to let these guys back into his car and then begin driving them home. During the drive home they were flagged down by someone who thought they were following them. The front seat passenger got out and walked 80 feet away where there was an altercation and he shot someone. Nobody in the car knew what was going to happen. Foster was maneuvered into becoming a co-defendent with the man who committed the murder. The jury was instructed that both men were sharing the same judgment and penalty. The other two men did not receive the death penalty even though they were the ones committing felonies.
Foster was the driver for ALL the robberies that were committed that night. He was the "wheel man". The single gun that was used in All three robberies had been passed back and forth by the other three men in the car while they were out on their armed robbery spree that night. Foster claims he didnt know anything was going on while he drove these 3 men (who each used the gun to rob someone before the third robbery victim was shot AFTER he gave up his wallet) around and looked for victims in the early am.
Maybe he doesn't deserve the death penalty. But the facts around the case bear out that Foster knew exactly what his friends were doing during their crime spree that night. He is not an innocent bystander. That is just hyperbole going the other direction.
He IS partially responsible for that man's death that night. After all, without Foster borrowing his relatives rented car in order to give the murderer a way to drive around and commit these crimes, the victim might still be alive.
And by the way, if you had ever been locked up for any period of time, you would realize that Life in maximum security is NOT more merciful than the death penalty. But hey, death or a life imprisoned with others like him- rape,abuse, basically a sentence of hell UNTIL he dies, naturally, or by suicide or murdered in prison- Either way, Foster deserves it.
A life sentence IS the Death penalty, just extended.
My, what a rationally challenged lot we have.
Maybe we should snuff the owner of the car. After all, if they didn't buy it the victim might still be alive.
Maybe the manufacturer of the gun should be eliminated. If they didn't make it, maybe the victim would still be alive.
How about executing the municipal head of transportation? He did facilitate things by keeping those dang roads usable.
Maybe his driving instructor from high school....?
Or maybe it's time for the US to join the rest of civilization in realizing that the death penalty is absurd, inhuman, unjust, vengeful and just plain stupid.
How very un-Bush-like RECALL VOTE! RECALL VOTE! RECALL VOTE!
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