'Oops,' he did it again

Texas justice system an unjust disaster

Despite Texas Governor George W. Bush's repeated statements on his confidence in the state's criminal justice system, it's terrifying, but not surprising to see another major mistake. This is the state that removed 36 inmates from death row last year by electrocuting them, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. No one knows what percentage of them may be innocent. This summer, Gary Graham's pleas to Bush went unanswered and his death sentence was carried out. Most recently, another man claimed responsibility for a crime two men had already been convicted of - but his pronouncement went unnoticed. Texas prison inmate Achim Josef Marino said "my conscience sickens me" because two men were serving life sentences in prison for the October 1988 rape and murder of 20-year-old Nancy DePriest. Marino is currently serving time for other offenses.

His confession was made to the governor in a February 1998 letter.

Marino included evidence linking him to the crime - the victim's keys and the deposit bags she had from work could be found at Marino's parents' house. Police confirmed investigators collected the evidence from his parent's house after they received an initial letter from Marino in 1996. Worse, the DNA of two men convicted in the rape and murder of DePriest did not match that of the semen taken from the victim.

So why did Marino's letter not make an impact? When evidence is presented that could free two men from life sentences, why is it not leapt upon? This is what those shocked by the news are thinking. The question is, what on earth were the staff at Bush's office thinking? Their answer is distressingly weak.

Once arriving at the governor's office, the letter slipped through the cracks, and no one else saw it. Mike Jones, a spokesman for Governor Bush's office, confirmed the letter arrived in 1998 and remains on file, although it was never actually read by Bush. More than 1,000 letters from inmates are received by the governor's office every year. Standard policy calls for forwarding them to the appropriate law enforcement agency.

Marino's letter was not forwarded. Jones said the letter indicated a copy was also sent to Travis County district attorney Ronnie Earle. In such cases a letter received by the governor's office is not forwarded, according to Jones, to "avoid duplication."

But Earle said the letter never arrived at his office; he became aware of it only after the Austin Police Department received a copy. Earle says he has no idea how the police received Marino's letter, unless Marino sent it there by mistake.

Marino might have sent it to the wrong county by mistake. But that does not change the grave mistake the governor's office made, and the mistakes both the Texas and other state criminal justice systems make after they convict someone with countering DNA evidence for life to death. Sloppiness has inhumane consequences. What if these two men are found now found innocent? What if they had been sentenced to death, been electrocuted, all while Marino's letter was lost in a red-tape 'oops'?

An inmate says he committed a crime that two other men are currently serving time for - and no one heard him. Maybe Bush will hear the outcry: Your system is an unjust disaster.