16 March 2010 :

Judge declares penalty unconstitutional. State district judge Kevin Fine in Houston has granted a pretrial motion declaring the death penalty unconstitutional, a decision that the Texas attorney general called "an act of unabashed judicial activism." The motion was 1 of many submitted by defense attorneys Bob Loper and Casey Keirnan arguing Texas' death penalty was unconstitutional for their client, John Edward Green Jr. Judge Fine said the state's law violates a defendant’s right to due process because of the risk of executing an innocent person. The judge based his ruling on studies around the country and in Texas that indicated, "it can only be concluded that innocent people have been executed….Are you willing to have your brother, your father, your mother be the sacrificial lamb, to be the innocent person executed so that we can have a death penalty so that we can execute those who are deserving of the death penalty?” Green's defense attorneys were pleased with the judge's decision, although they believe the ruling will be appealed and probably reversed. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offered to help the district attorney appeal Judge Kevin Fine's decision, which Abbott said ignored U.S. Supreme Court precedent. Green, 23, is accused of fatally shooting a woman and wounding her sister on June 16, 2008.