Legal safeguards cause death row executions to take years

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — For many victims' families, a death row execution represents the justice they seek. However, they often face a wait of years or decades to see that justice realized.

The average death row sentence takes 20 years to reach its execution date.

Ricardo Barrera, owner and lead attorney of Barrera Law Firm, said many factors go into ensuring that a person on death row is facing their penalty without any reasonable doubt that the verdict could have gone another way.

“From the date that an execution is ordered after a jury trial, up and through the actual execution, there are both state and federal safeguards to ensure that there is no legal error or evidentiary issue that would’ve come out with a different result," Barrera said.

Barrera said the safeguards are necessary to protect those who have been sentenced to death row from an imperfect justice system.

Texas death sentences get an automatic appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals — the highest criminal court in Texas. The appeal process can take 10-20 years or more as it gets reviewed by both state and federal courts.

A death penalty appeals case can present anything from newly discovered evidence to ineffective assistance of counsel. It is also common for appeals cases to ask if evidence was presented legally during the trial.

“Regarding evidence, there’s a Texas rule of evidence that requires certain procedures during the acceptance or presentment of evidence," Barrera said. "There’s clarification by our legislature on how evidence can come in and when it needs to be presented by the state in full and there are also legal issues with caselaw as to how the law was applied by the court of which the jury relied on.”

It is only after all these factors have been reviewed and confirmed as correct, that a person's execution can be carried out.