Word: sheriffs
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Reformers like Earle hope that the capital system can promise something greater than merely preventing death at the last minute. It took someone like Earle to keep Delamora off death row--someone willing to ignore a grieving widow, the local sheriff and his own staff. Which makes Earle both courageous and freakish. It's one thing to understand that the vengeful emotions that accompany the death penalty can trump the factual certainties required to mete it out fairly. It's quite another to intellectualize the issue when a woman has lost her husband...
...have it both ways? Why is it so hard to have a death penalty and make sure only the guilty receive it? Because of cases like The State of Texas v. Delamora. On Feb. 15, 2001, Travis County sheriff's deputy Keith Ruiz was shot and killed while prying open the door to Edwin Delamora's trailer. Ruiz had gone with members of the Capital Area Narcotics Task Force to arrest Delamora on charges of selling methamphetamine. Frightened, Delamora fired his 9-mm pistol through a window in his front door. Prosecutors said the bullet hit Ruiz in the aorta...
...guilty of capital murder, and because death wasn't an option, he automatically received what Texas law calls a "life" sentence in prison--no possibility of parole for 40 years. That wasn't enough for many Texans, who were furious: Ruiz's widow Bernadette and his boss, the county sheriff, were both quoted in the American-Statesman as criticizing the decision not to seek death. Texas attorney general John Cornyn, who was in the midst of a successful campaign to become a U.S. Senator, publicly attacked Earle. Nor was Delamora pleased; he is appealing...
...Florida camp had 24-hour sentries, a well-lighted security fence--and no reports of child abuse, according to the Pasco County sheriff's office. It was perfectly legal under Florida law, which--like most other state codes--doesn't prohibit anyone of any age from being naked at home, in locker rooms, at nudist resorts or in any other areas where nudity is expected. Lewd behavior is outlawed in public and private, say Florida legal experts, but not mere nudity...
After the speeches and conferral of degrees, the high sheriff closed the ceremony by pounding his staff three times. This time, he held the knob securely in place...