• In Texas, a governor has the legal authority to commute a death sentence only on the recommendation of a majority of the 18-member Board of Pardons and Paroles.
• Since Gov. George W. Bush has been in office, a majority of the Board of Pardons and Paroles has voted to recommend commutation of a death sentence only once. The board recommended commutation in the case of Henry Lee Lucas; Bush agreed and commuted Lucas' sentence to life in prison.
• The only independent authority that a Texas governor has in a death penalty case is to grant a one-time, 30-day delay of an execution.
• If the Texas governor is out of state at the time of an execution, the lieutenant governor has the official authority to assume the governor's powers and duties with regard to that execution. If the lieutenant governor is out of state, the responsibility falls to the president pro tempore of the Senate. There have been 134 executions between the time Bush took office and June 16, 2000.
• Former Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock presided over five of those executions, Lt. Gov. Rick Perry presided over 24 executions, and state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, presided over three. The total number does not count an execution that occurred the day the governor was inaugurated on Jan. 17, 1995. Bullock presided over that execution.
• Criminals who have been executed during Bush's tenure have served an average of 11 years, 8 1/2 months in prison between sentencing and execution.

Copyright 2000 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.