USA - Texas. Judge Teresa Hawthorne ruled that Texas’ death penalty statute is unconstitutional

During a pre-trial hearing in the Dallas County capital murder case of Roderick Harris, state District Judge Teresa Hawthorne, white, Democratic,  ruled that Texas’ death penalty statute is unconstitutional, because it grants too much arbitrary discretion to prosecutors. According to a summary of the court’s findings, Judge Hawthorne provided the following reasons (among others) for her ruling: The Legislature’s failure to define terms in the special issues, which determine life or death for a convicted capital murderer; the Legislature’s definition of mitigating is vague and arbitrary;  the statute’s 10-2 provision prohibits the jury from knowing that even a single dissenting juror can prevent the imposition of a death sentence. Unequal funding between prosecutors’ offices and defense attorneys makes a death prosecution a matter of unequal protection of the laws. The unfettered discretion allowed to prosecutors to seek death or not without established standards makes the law arbitrary and capricious. Harris is accused of shooting and killing brothers Alfredo and Carlos Gallardo during a robbery in March 2009. The trial is expected to start in May.