Here's What You Need To Know About Rick Perry And The Death Penalty

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Rick Perry Texas" />As the longest-running governor of Texas, Rick Perry has overseen 234 death row executions — more than any other governor in modern history.

The 2012 presidential hopeful has has presided over nearly half of the state's executions since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, and more  than the combined total of the next two states, Oklahoma and Virginia.

The high number is partly explained by Perry's lengthy gubernatorial tenure — the annual rate was actually higher under Perry's predecessor, George W. Bush, who oversaw 152 executions during his five years as governor.

Texas is also a bastion for capital punishment. Unlike other states, Texas has streamlined the legal process for death penalty cases, cutting down the time between conviction and execution. The governor is blocked from calling for a moratorium on the death penalty and can grant clemency if it is recommended by the state Board of Pardon and Paroles.

Perry has not shied away from the executions. A staunch supporter of the death penalty, Perry vetoed a bill that would have barred the execution of the mentally retarded and came out strongly against a U.S. Supreme Court ruling forbidding states to put minors on death row. In his 11 years as governor, Perry has commuted the sentence of only one death row inmate.

By itself, Perry's willingness to use the death penalty is unlikely to be an issue for his 2012 presidential bid. Though controversial, capital punishment is still popular among Americans.

But one of the cases — the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham — could come back to haunt Perry on the campaign trail. The incident, documented in an award-winning 2009 New Yorker story, has raised questions about whether Perry allowed an innocent man to be executed, and then limited the investigation that followed. 

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