Thumb Award IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED, TRIAL, TRIAL AGAIN

Thumbs Down to the Dallas County DA’s office for once again wasting taxpayers’ money on a repeatedly botched prosecution. Indeed, botched is an understatement in the case of Howie Ray Robinson. Robinson was arrested for a convenience store murder/robbery in 1973 and was convicted in 1974 and sent to Death Row. A year later the conviction was reversed on appeal because prosecutors had improperly introduced lie detector test results into the trial record. In 1975, Robinson was tried and convicted again. That conviction was subsequently reversed because of improper questioning by the DA’s office. In mid-1978, another trial and another conviction; Henry Wade’s boys were sure they had him this time. Except for one thing: Somebody lost the trial transcripts. Result: Robinson is slated for a fourth trial sometime this summer. When and if he is convicted again, it will have taken the DA’s office seven years and more than $75,000 to do it. Something to remember next time Henry Wade talks about swiftness and certainty of justice.