Hang 'Em High -- in Texas

Actual executions are in sharp decline across the country. Most capital cases take years, if not decades, to resolve, through retrials, collateral appeals, and lower court remands. Not surprisingly, Texas now accounts for 60% of all executions in the United States, according to the New York Times. Few of the powers that be in Texas are inclined to slow this trend. Quite the opposite:

The last execution before the Supreme Court imposed a de facto moratorium happened in Texas, and in emblematic fashion. The presiding judge on the state’s highest court for criminal matters, Judge Sharon Keller, closed the courthouse at its regular time of 5 p.m. and turned back an attempt to file appeal papers a few minutes later, according to a complaint in a wrongful-death suit filed in federal court last month.

The inmate, Michael Richard, was executed that evening.

(Credit: How Appealing)

It's going to cost Maricopa County taxpayers another seven figures to remain Death Capital of the United States.

County Attorney Andy says there is "no need for [his] office to evaluate its policy."

So, did you know Maricopa County has 135 pending death penalty cases?

That's a lot, right?

L.A. County, home to 9.9 million people, has only 36.

The Hon. James Keppel, Criminal Presiding Judge of Maricopa County, ordered County Attorney Andrew Thomas into a closed session Friday to discuss the matter.

Why a closed session? Choice quote from Stephen Dichter, from the Office of the Legal Advocate: “No one should see how the attorneys make the sausage.”