Texas' 500th Execution Underscores Death Penalty's Futility

I noted this week that Texas carried out its 500th death sentence - - most in the nation.

#500 was a woman, something of a twist.

Yes, Texas has the record - - and it's heading towards, what? 600? 1,000?

The rising numbers suggest its infamous Walls Unit death house in Huntsville isn't deterring murder in The Lone Star State.

A point I have argued over the years, beginning with a Journal Sentinel series in 1995 that included an account as a media witness to the death by lethal injection in the Walls Unit on January 31, 1995, of one Clifton Russell, Jr. in what turned to have been then-Texas Governor George W. Bush's first of 152 executions (one commutation).

Turns out there was another twist that night, too:

Texas' first back-to-back executions. A two-fer test of the system, I was told. (For the record, I passed on the execution of Willie Williams, whom I had interviewed a few days earlier.)

One thing about Texas and capital punishment: Plenty of milestones and headstones.