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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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Texas death-row inmate Selwyn Davis found dead in his cell

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A convicted Austin killer sentenced to be executed for the 2006 murder of his girlfriend's mother died Friday after being discovered unconscious in his cell on Texas' death row, officials said Wednesday.

Authorities said they are investigating the death — a rarity on Texas' death row because security is so tight and convicts are so isolated — amid allegations that he overdosed on pills he may have hoarded in his cell.

No official cause of death has been established, they said.

Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said Selwyn Davis, 30, was found unconscious during a routine security check by a correctional officer shortly after 9 p.m. Friday at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, east of Huntsville.

"He was unresponsive on the floor," Clark said. "Staff began lifesaving measures, called 911 and took the offender to the unit infirmary."

Davis was rushed by ambulance to Livingston Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:04 p.m., Clark said. An autopsy and cause of death are pending, he said.

Clark said the agency's Office of Inspector General is investigating the death.

In October 2007, Davis was sentenced to death for fatally stabbing Regina Lara in her 38½ Street apartment, capping a two-day crime spree in Austin during August 2006.


Source: statesman.com, July 26, 2012
Location: Texas
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