AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Former Texas Governor Mark White said today that he thinks it is time to rethink using the death penalty, because it is no longer a threat to would-be murderers.

Opponents of the death penalty are saying that it may be a sign that Texas is heading away from administering the death penalty, others say the statistics disagree.

Innocence Project of Texas Attorney Jeff Blackburn says, "It's very important to have someone who is that conservative speak out against it like that. I think the trend is, like what we saw in [the Levi King trial] down in Lubbock, jurors are saying, 'why put this guy to death when we could just put him in prision for the rest of his life. It's not like he's going to get out of prison.'"

Randall County District Attorney James Farren disagrees, "There have been untold numbers of surveys and polls and attempts to gather data from the public about how they feel about the death penalty and the results have always been that between 65 and 85 percent of the public supports the death penalty, in an appropriate case."

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