Craig Hines details the errors and malfeasance i n Delma Banks, Jr.'s trial in the Houston Chronicle, adding these comments:

It will be a minor historical moment in Texas' bumptious, assembly-line approach to capital punishment, as Banks will be the 300th Texas inmate to die at the hands of the state since executions resumed in 1982. But it will be a major step in the state's determined effort to ignore or wish away monumental problems with capital punishment (not to mention the institutional moral depravity involved), as the Banks case is a primer in prosecutorial misconduct and procedural nightmares.

The Houston Chronicle writes in its editorial today:

"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong," wrote Voltaire.

Unless the U.S. Supreme Court acts at the last minute, Texas today will execute its 300th convict since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982. The problem, in the case of Delma Banks, sentenced to die for the 1980 murder of 16-year-old Richard Wayne Whitehead in Bowie County near Texarkana, is that the government could very well be wrong.

Allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, racial bias and withheld scientific evidence raise serious questions about whether Banks was wrongfully convicted.

In many ways the case is a microcosm for what's wrong with the way the capital punishment system is set up in Texas. Flaws in the system have caused respected groups like the League of Women Voters to join calls for a moratorium on capital punishment until these issues can be resolved.

The Dallas Morning News calls on Texas to implement a moratorium on the death penalty:

Texas, which executes more people than all the states and even most countries, should pause. New evidence of a flawed system and cautions expressed recently by some of those closest to the process make a good case for a moratorium on executions until Texas carefully reviews its death penalty process to assure that it is just.

The editorial also lists people and agencies to contact to make your voice heard. It's time for Texans to speak out--loudly. If Delma Banks, Jr. is killed tonight, there should be a loud and sustained protest--and call to action.

Advocacy for or against the death penalty isn't the point. Time out to fix a broken system is. It's in the interests of all Texans to support such action.Make your voice heard. Tell elected officials to establish an independent commission to review the Texas death penalty, and recommend the Board of Pardons ands suspend executions until the review is completed.

Senate State Affairs Committee Chairman Bill Ratliff (R-Mount Pleasant): 512-463-0101; fax: 512-475-3751; Box 12068, Austin, Texas 78711.

House State Affairs Committee Chairman Ken Marchant (R-Coppell): 512-463-0468; e-mail: ken.marchant@house.state.tx.us; Box 2910, Austin, Texas 78768.

Find a full list of state officials representing the North Texas area by linking to the Voter's Post Office at the bottom of the Opinion page on Dallasnews.com.

Update: The Austin American Statesman Editorial: Hope for a fair trial lies with Supreme Court

San Antonio Express News Editorial: Stop the 300th Execution