Cases involving DNA analysis from the troubled Houston...

Cases involving DNA analysis from the troubled Houston police crime lab won't be treated any differently than other capital cases that reach Gov. Rick Perry's desk, his spokeswoman said, responding to a request by Houston's mayor for a moratorium on 16 death penalty cases from Harris County.
"The governor does not have the authority to issue a moratorium," spokeswoman Kathy Walt said regarding 16 Harris County Death Row inmates whose cases have been identified as including DNA analysis done by the Houston crime lab. "Each of those cases can be reviewed individually and independently as they reach his desk."
Texas governors have the power to grant only a one-time, 30-day reprieve. A governor also has the ability to grant clemency, but that is strictly limited unless the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends a commutation.
Earlier, Perry said he didn't support a moratorium.
"I've got faith in our legal system and criminal justice system in the state of Texas," the governor said.
Houston Mayor Lee Brown, however, urged in his letter to Perry that the "right thing to do" was to temporarily halt executions.
"Until all questions are answered concerning the DNA analyses, a moratorium should be placed on those death penalty cases in which evidence from the DNA section of the HPD crime lab was used during the prosecution," Brown wrote to Perry. "This is the right thing to do."
The 16 Death Row cases will receive priority review as the Harris County district attorney's office continues to wade through hundreds of cases, which may have included DNA analysis by the lab, Walt said.
The lab came under fire after an independent audit in December 2002, which revealed problems such as a lack of contamination controls and training for lab workers. Based on the findings, the crime lab has suspended DNA testing.