Texas Christian Hate Murder

The most interesting thing about this story is the last sentence. A Texas man claims that God instructed him to hunt down and kill a gay man. The victim, by all accounts, was a kind man well loved by the people he worked with. The killer has confessed, proudly and without remorse. This killer is a repeat felon; he says he first spoke with God while in prison in 2001. Texas, as we all know, is the world headquarters for harsh justice. The last sentence of the story reads:

He is being held on $500,000 bail.

That means $50,000 bond will free him. Some judge set bail for a confessed murderer. It makes sense if you remember this is Texas. The victim was gay; the murderer, one Terry Mark Mangum, is a white Christian. I guess we can be grateful the murderer was arrested at all. Another source. And, yet another.

More on Texas bail laws. Texas law states that "courts can deny bail when the person is charged with a capital offense and the evidence is clear." I feel certain that a confession to murder amounts to clear evidence. A meaningless tidbit about bail from the Texas Constitution, at 339 words it is one of the worst run-on sentences I have ever encountered, proves what I had previously only guessed. Harriet Miers and Alberto Gonzalez are simply prominent examples of the fact that Texas lawyers are barely literate bumpkins.