TEXAS CONTINUES TO DO WHAT CALIFORNIA WONT

On Wednesday, Elroy Chester became the 499th murderer executed in Texas since 1982 and Kimberly McCarthy is scheduled to become number 500 on June 26

Elroy Chester was convicted and sentenced to death after confessing to the 1988 fatal shooting of a Port Arthur firefighter and the rape of his two nieces. Chester also confessed to murdering four other people and assaulting several others during a six-months crime spree in which he committed 25 burglaries.

Chester's pending execution became controversial after federal judge Edith Jones of the 5th Circuit gave an inflammatory lecture at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in which she allegedly said that “racial groups like African-Americans and Hispanics are predisposed to crime.” She also allegedly expressed outrage that Chester's lawyers raised the ‘mental impairment' issue. Judge Jones is now under judicial review for making those remarks.

When the 5th Circuit heard his appeal two years ago, Judge Jones was in a 2 – 1 majority which ruled that Chester was not mentally impaired and that the State of Texas could proceed with his execution.

Because of Jone's remarks in Pennsylvania, Chester's attorneys filed a last minute appeal, arguing that she was biased against him when she denied his appeal. They asked that a different panel of the 5th Circuit be assigned to revisit Chester's appeal. The court complied and on June 12 a new panel ruled that “We perceive no injustice, nor any incorrectness, in affirmance of the district court's order denying habeas relief.” The lawyers then appealed to the Supreme Court which refused to delay the execution.

On Wednesday, Chester became the 499th murderer executed in Texas since 1982. Now the Lone Star State is awaiting number 500, Kimberly McCarthy, who will become the fourth Texas woman put to death since executions resumed in 1982.

California, why wont you execute any of the more than 700 murderers roosting on your death row?