Word: grahamism
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...Gary Graham is staring death in the face...
After years of appeals and legal machinations, the convicted murderer will die Thursday in a Huntsville, Texas, execution chamber. Graham, 36, was found guilty of a 1981 murder, and has spent the interim period denying his guilt. While no one involved in this case harbors any illusions that Graham is a saint (he has confessed to multiple charges of robbery and aggravated assault), there is a growing sense that he may not be guilty of this particular crime...
...exacerbating crime (in this case, rape) that edged the murder into capital territory; his lawyers hoped DNA tests would erase the rape charge and take him off death row. The problem for Bush is that many of those same people may not have the stomach to watch Graham die. In fact, Graham's case is being held up around the country as a virtual point-by-point guide to what's wrong with Texas' justice system...
Even a cursory analysis of Graham's trial reveals shocking ineptitude. His defense lawyer, Ronald Mock, didn't call a single witness during the proceedings, essentially allowing the capital murder charge to go unchallenged. It wouldn't have been all that tough for Mock to do his job with a degree of competence: Slim evidence links Graham to the crime; several eyewitnesses have said Graham was not the man they saw at the murder scene, and when he was arrested, Graham was carrying a different gun than that used in the murder...
...what's a staunch defender of the death penalty like Bush to do? Any move he chooses will not be without its risks. "If he grants Graham a stay, he risks looking very political in eyes of death penalty supporters," says TIME Washington correspondent Jay Carney. "Here's this governor who's signed off on a record number of executions, largely without looking back, and in the course of three weeks, he's considered two cases for leniency." On the other hand, if Texas executes Graham, and he is exonerated posthumously, Bush's reputation as a glib executioner could achieve...