As The Dallas Morning News has shown this week, it is not only legal, it happened at least 120 times in Texas from 2000 through 2006.
Dallas County led the state, by far, in granting probation for murder. It returned at least 47 killers to the streets, more than double the number the county sent to death row.
So, what does Aaron Pena, Chairman of Jurisprudence, have to say:
Committee chairman Aaron Peña said he didn't know probation as a sentence for murder was legally possible.
Again, Aaron Pena showing that he's not the smartest guy over there. Sounds, like Alma Garza. DUH DUH DUH! Birds of a feather flock together.
This is an outrage! Imagine getting probation for murder? Leave it up to Aaron Pena to drop the ball. Wait, how many times is that already? 10 or 11!
"I thought you guys were hard-core," Utah prison system executive director Tom Patterson said when told that Texas allowed probation for murder. Utah requires a minimum 15-year prison term.
Bennett Gershman, a law professor at Pace University in New York and a former prosecutor of violent crimes, said he thinks removing probation in murder cases would be a "valuable and valid objective."
For several years, state Rep. Scott Hochberg has fought an often lonely battle in the Legislature to ban probation as a sentence for murder. That's what he was working on earlier this year, when Mr. Dutton promised everyone free meals.
Mr. Hochberg's inspiration was the 1998 murder trial of a man who shot a tow-truck driver for trying to remove his vehicle from a reserved parking spot. Harris County jurors convicted the killer but awarded him probation after six of his co-workers – firefighters in uniform – praised him on the witness stand.
But Mr. Hochberg has had difficulty building support. Texas prosecutors and defense lawyers don't want anything to limit their flexibility when making deals.
"They each tenaciously try to hold on to the tools in their tool chest," the Houston Democrat said.
In this year's legislative session, Mr. Hochberg got half of what he wanted. For murders committed after Sept. 1, juries cannot sentence people to probation for murder. But prosecutors still can cut the kind of deals The News found prevalent in its study.
