Bush plays safe in death row ruling

LOS ANGELES - With doubts growing across America about the safety of many death penalty convictions, Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush yesterday announced his intention to issue the first stay of execution of his five-year tenure as Governor of Texas.

The move smacked as much of judicious politics as temperate administration of justice.

Governor Bush said he would grant a 30-day stay to Ricky Nolen McGinn - a 43-year-old convicted of his 12-year-old stepdaughter's rape and murder in 1993 - to allow time for DNA testing.

McGinn had been scheduled to die by lethal injection yesterday.

Unusually, Bush's decision went against a ruling by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and against the recommendation of his own Board of Pardons and Paroles. Both rejected the defence's petition for DNA tests.

"I want the man to have his full day in court," Bush said. "If there is any doubt, any outstanding evidence that exonerates him from the rape, we ought to look at it."

Also unusually, Bush made his remarks not in Texas but on the campaign trail in Arizona and New Mexico, suggesting an attempt to wrest political capital from the issue.

Since he became Governor, Texas has executed 131 prisoners, with another dozen executions scheduled over the next month alone.

Although Bush's vigorous pro-death penalty stance has made him popular in his home state, it has prompted questions in the national and world media about his "compassionate, conservative" image just as his presidential campaign is gaining considerable momentum.

Online magazine Salon, for example, recently dubbed Bush "the hanging Governor."

It questioned the guilt of one man executed last year, and another due to die this month for a murder allegedly committed during a drunk crime binge when the defendant was just 17.

Although backed by a good two-thirds of Americans, the death penalty is less popular than at any time since its reintroduction 24 years ago.

Illinois Governor George Ryan recently declared a moratorium on executions in his state after evidence cast doubt on the guilt of 13 death row prisoners.

New Hampshire lawmakers this month voted to abolish the death penalty - a move vetoed by Governor Jeanne Shaheen.

DNA testing has been influential in unveiling flaws in the system, underlining the argument of anti-capital punishment campaigners that death penalty convictions are dangerous as defendants are usually poor and unable to afford adequate legal representation.

- INDEPENDENT