On Feb. 27, The state of Texas is scheduled to execute Donald Miller for the 1982 murders of Dennis Mozingo and Kenneth Whitt near Houston. Miller and two others shot them after kidnapping and robbing them.
Executing Miller would constitute the ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment. Furthermore, this sentence demonstrates the arbitrariness of capital punishment. Neither of Miller’s accomplices received death sentences. Furthermore, the main witness and codefendant recanted his original statement, that he did not, in fact, see Miller shoot anyone. Also, the federal district court found that the state had suppressed important evidence during the sentencing phase of the trial and then granted Miller relief. This decision was later overturned by the 5th Circuit court.