Alum's lecture foucuses on unfairly imposed death penalty
By MICHAEL De La ROSA
News Writer
The death penalty is imposed in a biased and unfair fashion, said lawyer Greg Wiercioch in a Monday lecture discussing the planned federal execution of Juan Raul Garza, the first since 1963.
Wiercioch, an '86 Notre Dame alumnus, is a member of the nonprofit Texas Defender Service, which provides post-conviction representation to people sentenced to death.
Wiercioch represents Garza, a Mexican-American sentenced to death in 1993 under the federal drug kingpin statute. Garza was convicted of three murders that tied into a marijuana smuggling and distribution ring based in Brownsville, Texas.
Wiercioch said the death penalty is unwarranted in this case. Garza was treated unfairly at the sentencing phase of the trial, Wiercioch said.
During the trial, no physical evidence was given to link Garza to the murders; the verdict was based on testimony of three accomplices who received reduced sentences in exchange for testifying, explained Wiercioch. The government also introduced evidence that Garza had committed four additional murders in Mexico, although he was not convicted.
Wiercioch noted bias in capital punishment cases, especially those involving minorities. He pointed out that of 133 defendants authorized for death penalty from 1988-98, 76 percent were members of racial minorities.
There have also been inconsistencies in what crime merits a death penalty, Wiercioch said. He asked attendees to white letters to President Clinton asking for executive clemency in the Garza case.
All News Stories for Tuesday, February 8, 2000
