Texas: Lawyers respond to Gov. Abbott's request to fast track executions for mass murderers

We are taking a closer look into a tweet by Governor Greg Abbott where he’s asking the legislature to speed up the death penalty process for convicted mass murderers.

This is following the mass shootings in El Paso and Odessa.

According to a death penalty lawyer, death penalty cases in Texas are actually tried pretty quick. Things slow down when they hit the Federal Court of Appeals.

In the tweet, the Governor linked to an article from the Blaze. The article cites a Bloomberg article stating the Department of Justice is drafting legislation to speed up the execution of people convicted of mass murder.

According to Joe Hoelscher, the managing attorney with Hoelscher, Gebbia, Cepeda PLLC, there are federal laws in place which would allow for a faster appeals process in a provision in the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. He says the state tried to apply for that provision a couple years ago, but Texas didn’t qualify.

“We are fully capable of putting innocent people on death row and leaving them there for decades even after their innocence is established and we just haven’t developed a reliable system and making sure we're executing the right people," said Hoelscher.

Hoelscher went on to add expediting executions would likely not scare mass murderers because the majority of them are willing to die anyways.

“The effective changes won’t be trying to kill these people faster, we have to figure out how to stop them from killing in the first place,” Hoelscher said.

“The first thing that we could do to expedite capital litigation for mass shootings is eliminate habeas action,” said Robert Gebbia, a partner at Hoelscher, Gebbia, Cepeda PLLC.

Gebbia added changes could be made in the law specifically for those who commit mass shootings.

“You re-classify the crime from capital murder multiple persons to capital murder mass shootings. You change the range of punishment, you change the process around and you eliminate habeas,” Gebbia said.

Even if these changes are made, both lawyers agree this would likely not be a deterrent for shootings like we have seen in Sutherland Springs, El Paso and Midland-Odessa.

“That’s a mental health problem, that’s a gun problem, that’s a societal problem, and we don’t have a lot to do with that here. We just try to correct things after they’ve happened,” Gebbia said.

Multiple requests to Gov. Abbott's office for comment haven't been returned.

Source: foxsanantonio.com, Staff, September 5, 2019

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