I sometimes wonder why they even bother with trials in
Texas in death penalty cases. They should just shoot the
defendant and save all the time and money spent on a trial.
In this particular outrage in the Texas "judicial" system, Calvin Burdine's
attorney, Joe Cannon fell asleep during several parts of the trial. Naturally,
this being Texas, the defendant was convicted and sentenced to die in the gas
chamber in Huntsville. Burdine's appealled to the Fifth Circuit Court claiming
that he could not have possibly received a fair trial if his attorney was asleep
for part of it.
Unfortunately, for Mr. Burdine, the Fifth Circuit Court did not agree stating,
``We cannot determine whether Cannon slept during a critical stage of Burdine's
trial,''
I'm sorry, but considering a man's life hangs in the balance I think every part
of his trial is critical.
Also, it is clear that because the attorney ACTUALLY slept during the trial, he
was tired and groggy for a good part of it. And certainly not alert and fully
functional and hence not able to offer a quality defense.
Finally, WHAT THE HELL WAS THE TRIAL JUDGE DOING? How could he allow
the trial to continue with the lawyer for the defense sleeping right in front
of him? If nothing else, this shows that the judge was either completely
incompetent or had a serious bias towards the prosecution.
I think Texans need to seriously reconsider their concept of justice and bring
it out of the 18th century.
