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Waging diplomatic war
NATO is dictating a peace deal at the U.N. that will virtually guarantee Kosovo's future independence.
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[06/09/99]

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[06/08/99]

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As diplomats wrangle, Serbian forces reportedly loot Kosovo cities.
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[06/08/99]

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[06/07/99]

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A new book lays out his role in a failed S&L, and it wasn't just a youthful indiscretion.
By David Moberg
[06/07/99]

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Even in Texas, a state that has executed 13 people this year alone, Holmes is a standout. If Holmes were his own state, he would rank third behind Texas and Virginia in the number of murderers executed. The longtime Harris County district attorney has officially sent more people to their deaths than any other person in America, earning him the title of toughest prosecutor in the land.

Nearly one-third of the 448 men, as well as three of the eight women, now on Texas' death row were convicted in Harris County. Every decision to seek the death penalty must be personally approved by Holmes, who oversees a staff of more than 200 prosecutors.

It was Holmes, a 57-year-old Republican, who chose to seek death for Karla Faye Tucker, a convicted murderer who was executed last year. Tucker, the first woman executed in Texas since the Civil War, earned international attention, vowing in her appeal that she had become a born-again Christian and apologizing for her crime. Her case even brought a personal appeal for clemency from Pope John Paul II, a plea that Gov. George W. Bush declined. Holmes says the governor made the right decision.

"I'll show them what she did. What she did was awful," says Holmes indignantly. "This guy who she killed was pinned to the mattress. He couldn't be moved. She put a pickax right through that man."

Holmes gets riled when he starts talking about the death penalty. Of course he knows the numbers. Sure, he knows that he has sent more people to their deaths than several other states combined. That's part of his job. And when it comes to the actual execution, there are some cases where Holmes wishes that "I could have done it myself."

For Holmes, the law is sacrosanct, and he goes out of his way to uphold it. "There's nothing worse than having a law and not enforcing it," he says. "That promotes disrespect for the law." In 1996, Holmes saw a man pilfering lumber from a construction site near his home. While his wife called 911, Holmes grabbed his shotgun and ordered the man to surrender. When told it seemed a rather remarkable thing to do, Holmes replied, "Wouldn't you do the same thing if somebody is stealing your neighbor's lumber? Are you going to sit there with your finger up your ass and watch him steal it?"

Holmes has also proven that for him, respect for the law runs deeper than family ties. He once turned in his own uncle to the Internal Revenue Service.

Known for his handlebar mustache, Holmes talks, looks and acts like someone straight out of central casting. Give him chaps, spurs, a six-shooter (or a shotgun) and a cowboy hat and he'd be an obvious choice to play Wyatt Earp. Holmes' penchant for seeking the death penalty certainly puts him in the same league as other old West lawmen like Isaac Parker, the legendary hanging judge from Fort Smith who once strung up three men in a single afternoon.

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