Karla Faye Tucker

Karla Faye Tucker Brown (November 18, 1959 ? February 3, 1998) Karla Tucker was born and grew up in Houston, Texas. When she was 13, she began traveling with the Allman Brothers Band. In her early 20's she started to hang out with bikers and on June 13, 1983 she entered the home of another biker with Danny Garrett and James Leibrant to steal a motorcycle. During the robbery, two persons were killed and Danny Garrett and Karla Tucker were convicted of their murder.

Karla Tucker and George W. Bush

Under Texas law, each death penalty case has one chance to be reprieved by a governor without the recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. The board must recommend the second reprieve in order for it to be granted. All 18 members of the Board of Pardons and Paroles are appointed by the governor (Clark, 2000). Before execution of Karla Tucker, there were the appeals for clemency, from Waly Bacre Ndiaye, the United Nations commissioner on summary and arbitrary executions, the World Council of Churches, the Pope John Paul II, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, and other world figures. The unusual appeals came from conservative American political figures such as Newt Gingrich and Pat Robertson, interceding on her behalf. Karla Tucker did not ask pardon, only commutation of her death sentence to a life in prison that she can atone for her crime by working in the prison's hospital. Warden of the Huntsville prison Baggett testified that she was a model prisoner and that after 14 years on the death row, she likely have been reformed. Despite of these pleas, then-Governor George W. Bush signed her death warrant. In 1999, during the 2000 Republican Presidential primary race, Carlson interviewed George W. Bush for Talk Magazine. Carlson wrote:

Related Topics:
Pope John Paul II - Newt Gingrich - Pat Robertson - Governor - George W. Bush - Carlson

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

::In the weeks before the execution, Bush says, a number of protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Karla Fay Tucker. "Did you meet with any of them?" I ask. Bush whips around and stares at me. "No, I didn't meet with any of them," he snaps, as though I've just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. "I didn't meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with Tucker, though. He asked her real difficult questions like, "What would you say to Governor Bush?" "What was her answer?" I wonder. "Please," Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "don't kill me." I must look shocked--ridiculing the pleas of a condemned prisoner who has since been executed seems odd and cruel--because he immediately stops smirking.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bush denied that he had intended to make light of the issue.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~