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A Victim's Voice in Austin OpEd

By Steve Hall

"In Texas, no one should pay for an imperfect system with their lives," is the title of an OpEd from today's Austin American-Statesman.  It's written by Helene Burns, a member of Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, nd a volunteer for both the Travis County Sheriff's Office's Critical Incident Stress Management Team, in Austin. I?am a survivor of a murder victim. I'm a registered nurse, wife, mother and a citizen interested in helping the community. I even vote. In 1985, my mother was killed in cold blood by my father, a physician. As it was a capital offense in California, the district attorney's office approached my family as to whether or not we wanted to pursue the death penalty. Although at that time, I was an advocate of the death penalty, the deputy district attorney explained that pursuing the death penalty is much harder on the surviving family members/victims, as it takes years of appeals before executions are carried out...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on March 14, 2011 (boomark / email).