Death penalty avenger

[Quantum Windbag]

Nice to see a DA doing the right job.

Between 1979 and 2000, Holmes built Harris County, Texas, into the execution capital of the nation. Since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, Harris County has sent more prisoners to the death chamber than any state in the country. Holmes was just as ruthless with lesser criminals, once seeking a life sentence for a substitute teacher who sold a joint to a student. "Harris County was the standard bearer of everything bad in criminal justice for a long time," says Jeff Blackburn of the Innocence Project of Texas. And yet, with Lykos at the helm, the office has undergone an astonishing turnaround. The Harris County D.A.'s office won the Innocence Project of Texas' “Honesty and Integrity in Prosecution Award” last fall. Under Lykos, the county "is becoming the single most powerful example of how to change this system and make it work right," Blackburn says. Lykos isn't just sending fewer people to death row; she's using her prosecutorial power to set the innocent free.
"It's a triple tragedy," says Lykos, who has recommended three exonerations so far—the latest just last month. "You have someone who's wrongfully convicted; there's no justice for the victim or for society; and thirdly the actual predator is free to continue his or her deprivations."

Pat Lykos: Texas' Capital Punishment Avenger - The Daily Beast