Posted on May 16, 2008 by Walter Reaves

Executing the Innocent

Last night as I was driving to Austin I had the good fortune to listen to an interview on the The Catholic Channel with Rev. Carrol Pickett. Rev. Pickett was the minister at the Walls unit in Huntsville for 16 years, and during his time he was present at 95 executions. He would be the inmate from 6:00 a.m., until they were executed shortly after midnight. (now they do it at 6:00 so everyone doesn't have to stay up all night). After each execution, he recorded his thoughts on a recorder as a form of therapy. We all now  have the privilege of  listening to some of those recordings.

During the interview he made a statement that almost caused me to  have a wreck. Without any hesitation, he stated that he knows 15 of those 95 inmates that were executed were actually innocent!! That means that in our so called quest for justice, we have killed 15 people for no reason. As has been pointed out before, that also means 15 people have gotten away with murder - at least a few of those have probably gone on to commit other murders. I've discussed before the attempts to estimate the number of innocent people in prison. According to these numbers, its around 15%.

Rev. Pickett is the subject of an independent film, At the Death House Door, that debuts on May 29. If its anything close to  his interview, it should be fascinating.

When he started talking, I wasn't sure where he stood on the death penalty. He eventually made his position abundantly clear - he is absolutely opposed to it. He quoted on the inmates he counseled, who summed it up perfectly: "what sense does it make for the State to kill someone, to convince everyone else that its wrong to kill people?"

While his discussion of executing innocent people got my attention, that was not what struck me most about the interview. When he finished, my one thought was how fortunate those 95 men were to be able to spend their last hours on earth with him. He is truly a remarkable Christian man - someone that is able to Jesus in others, even those condemned to death.

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Posted on April 10, 2008 by Walter Reaves

Theology of Criminal Defense

A recent post by Austin criminal defense lawyer Jamie Spencer suggested that Jesus was the ultimate defense lawyer. I'm guessing there are a lot of people who disagree with that idea, and probably would get really worked up if someone suggested it. I'm thinking of those whose are sometimes referred to as the radical part religious right. I say radical, because I consider myself in alignment with a lot of the things they advocate. However, I also disagree with many of their positions, starting with the death penalty. I may be wrong, but I think many of them put criminal defense lawyers only slightly above the citizens we represent.

Several years ago I heard a conservative talk show host make ask the question "whether a criminal defense lawyer could be a Christian". Needless to say, that got me agitated, and kept me fuming for days. As with most things, some good came out of it, because it caused me to think.

I have taken to heart the teaching that we are going to be judged by how we treat the least among us. It's easy to be nice to those we like, and our friends, but it's far harder to be nice to those we despise. Unfortunately, the criminal justice system often revolves around the decidedly non-Christian concerns of retribution and vengeance. I've handled several death penalty cases, and one of the saddest things I've observed is how the victim's family is often consumed by hatred and vengeance. Those feelings take them away from their faith, while at the same time those on death row are often growing in faith. Unfortunately, that desire for vengeance is often fueled by the system. It is certainly fueled by politicians, who go to great lengths to avoid recognizing criminal defendants are part of God's creation also. The new concept of restorative justice may be the solution, but this is for another post.

Our job as criminal defense lawyers is to see the good in our clients, and make sure they are treated fairly. In doing that, we often advocate for some of the most despised people in society. In other words, we interact daily with the people Jesus would probably be with if he were walking the earth today (not to say that he isn't, but thats even more of a theological question) So would Jesus be a criminal defense lawyer? I don't know, but I'm confident he would be support the job we do.

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