Yup, I know. I hear about crazy stuff like this all the time in my criminal justice classes. It sucks major and makes me mad too. Like for instance the guy that got 25 to life for stealing pizza because it was his "third strike", or the fact that drug and property offenders often get more time than violent offenders because of "three strikes legislation". The fact that some people on death row have never killed anyone pisses me off too, the "Law of Parties" put them there. And of course the fact that in Harris county, your hometown, two men were tried for the same murder, when there was one killer. The DA did not bother to look into the other cases, and both men were tried and convicted (one has already died on death row, and the other man is still there). Or the fact that the Texas court of appeals decided that the offender got proper counsel when his public defender fell asleep because he was "present". I hear about this stuff all the time, and I get on my soapbox about it, so sorry for ranting, but I TOTALLY agree with you.
wow. i really don't have anything constructive to add to that.