Carl Blue is dead.
The State of Texas murdered him because he murdered someone else.
It took 18 long years but the state finally got its revenge.
Only thing is, nothing changed.
Carmen Richards is still dead.
Lawrence Williams is still in pain.
It was premeditated murder.
Mr. Blue's last gasp appeal was denied yesterday. His attorney, Michael Charlton, argued that the attorney who handled Mr. Blue's appeal, John Quinn, had a conflict of interest because he was also Mr. Blue's trial attorney. Since Mr. Quinn handled both the trial and the appeal he had a personal stake in not appealing on the grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. The State of Texas countered that Mr. Blue waived the issue when he didn't ask for a different attorney to handle his appeal.
Although the courts didn't buy into Mr. Charlton's argument, it does have a certain logic to it. Mr. Blue wasn't an attorney. He had no idea how appeals work. He would have had no idea on what grounds he could appeal his conviction. How could he waive an issue he didn't know even existed?
But we can't allow arguments like that to get in the way of a good ol' killing, can we? And it that means denying Mr. Blue's claim, then so be it.
There are few people who will shed a tear for Mr. Blue. But that still doesn't justify killing him. And that certainly doesn't justify killing the next inmate in line - or the one after that.
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