Thread: Feds won`t seek inmates` executions

May 31, 2008, 10:17PM
Feds won't seek inmates' executions
Five reportedly became members of Texas Syndicate gang in prison


By CINDY GEORGE
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

The U.S. attorney general has declined to seek the death penalty against five alleged Texas Syndicate prison gang members charged last year with murders, armed robberies and drug trafficking.

Francisco Nuncio Jr., Roberto Garza, Rene Gonzales Jr., Johnny Perez Jr. and Willie Valdez are accused of death-eligible offenses in an 11-count indictment unsealed in February 2007.

They are among 17 purported gang members charged in a racketeering conspiracy, followed by allegations of three murders and five armed robberies along with marijuana and cocaine trafficking charges. Penalties range from 10 years to life in prison — and possibly death.

The decision comes a year after a Houston federal jury chose to punish truck driver Tyrone Williams with a life sentence instead of death for his conviction in the smuggling deaths of 19 undocumented immigrants. In 2004, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft decided to seek the death penalty against Williams, the only one among 14 defendants to face a capital case.

U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle, who oversees federal prosecutions in South Texas, declined to comment on an "internal deliberative process" in the Texas Syndicate matter.

Lawyers representing the defendants said they are pleased that the Justice Department decided against the harshest potential punishment.

Richard Kuniansky, who represents Nuncio, the lead defendant, said the case clearly did not warrant the death penalty.

"The defendants became members of the Texas Syndicate while in prison for self-preservation," he said. "If you refuse to carry out an order, such as a murder, you yourself will be murdered."

Ali Fazel, a Houston lawyer defending Gonzales, agreed that federal prosecutors made the right decision.

"They would not be able to obtain the death penalty in this case," he said.

Cases that include death-eligible offenses are examined by a Justice Department capital review committee. The process includes consulting with the victim's family, a prosecution memo and documents provided by defense attorneys.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey made the decision not to seek the death penalty against the Texas Syndicate defendants. The complex case is set for trial in May 2009.

The charges resulted from a five-year probe by federal, state and local law enforcement.

The Texas Syndicate originated in the California state prison system in the 1970s to protect Texas inmates from attacks. The Hispanic gang soon surfaced in Texas prisons.

According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, members are primarily Mexican-American. Though the prison system tracks the number of gang members, officials don't release estimates to the public because of security concerns.

cindy.george@chron.com




http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 11800.html

"The defendants became members of the Texas Syndicate while in prison for self-preservation," he said. "If you refuse to carry out an order, such as a murder, you yourself will be murdered."

This makes absolutely no sense. Removing the fear of a state sanctioned death penalty for prisoner on prisoner murders in Texas will only encourage more of the same. Some of these folks are already serving life without the possibility of parole. This policy makes a convicts murder a meaningless crime. Now, when someone in a Texas prison wants a fellow prisoner murdered, all he has to do hire someone that is destined to serve the rest of his life behind prison bars. Without the fear of the death penalty, the prisoner will have no reason not to snuff out the life of a one of his peers.

IMO, a better policy to combat the problem would have been to transfer any prisoner who goes to prison officials and claims he is being forced to commit a murder. Eliminating the most serious consequence a murderer faces for his crime is not the answer.