To Applause, Perry Defends Texas Death Penalty

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. – Texas Gov. Rick Perry is defending
the death penalty in Texas and says he’s never struggled with
whether any of the inmates executed during his time as governor
might have been innocent.

When Perry defended capital punishment, he drew strong applause
from the scores of people in the audience at the Republican debate
Wednesday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
As of today, 234 people have been executed in the 10-plus years
that Perry has served as governor of Texas. That’s the highest
number of any American governor.

The audience first applauded when NBC News anchor Brian Williams
cited the number of executions in Texas. Perry says he believes
that such a response reflects how much Americans support capital
punishment for particularly heinous crimes.