Houston Judge Declares Death Penalty Unconstitutional

Houston Judge Kevin Fine last week granted a motion filed by defense attorneys in a capital murder case and declared the death penalty unconstitutional. "What he's saying, and what the motion is saying, is that you can't administer the ... death penalty fairly in Texas," says John Keirnan, a lawyer for the defendant. "This is the beginning of the end of the death penalty in Texas." Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott called Fine's action an example of "unabashed judicial activism."