Gov. calls for LWOP option - Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday it's time state lawmakers seriously consider letting juries choose life without parole as an alternative to the death penalty. "Like a number of death penalty states, we should take a hard look at giving juries the option," Perry said in a wide-ranging criminal justice policy speech. "Today, juries have just 2 options -- death or the possibility that a violent criminal may one day be paroled," he said. Under current law, a life sentence means at least 40 years before parole can be considered. But just a decade ago, good behavior credits sometimes turned life- sentenced criminals out on the streets in as little as 6 years. In his speech to the Texas Association of Broadcasters, Perry also called for statewide standards for attorneys defending indigent clients in death penalty cases. He refused to lend support, however, for a proposed ban on executions of the mentally retarded, pending the outcome of a Texas death penalty case involving the mentally retarded Johnny Paul Penry. The case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court. Perry also backed a plan to allow post-conviction DNA testing and proposed "drug courts" with tough rehabilitation programs as an alternative to incarceration. "We should continue to look for ways to improve the justice system," said Perry. He also backed tougher penalties for chronic drunken drivers and for drug dealers who enlist children in distributing illegal drugs. The major policy speech followed Perry's release of his budget in which he called for issuing $95 million in bonds for the construction of prisons for 1,800 more beds. Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff and House Speaker Pete Laney both oppose financing state projects with bonds to essentially buy now and pay later. "I think Texans are always very reluctant to fund things with bonds," Ratliff said. "We do it, but we don't do it easily or quickly. I may be mistaken. The will may be there. I'm frankly not sure we need to build more prisons right now." However, Ratliff has made comments similar to Perry's regarding the life-without-parole sentencing option. Ratliff has said Texas should examine its frequent use of the death penalty, which came under attack during the presidential race in which Texas was shown in a negative light. Last year, a record 40 inmates were executed in Huntsville, the nation's busiest death chamber. Life-without-parole bills in past sessions have consistently failed, and the idea is fiercely opposed by some prosecutors. Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said he thinks the 3rd option for juries is a bad idea and told a staffer for the governor that the night before his speech. Death penalty opponents often blame Harris County for Texas' high execution rates, noting that its prosecutors are far more likely to seek the death penalty than those in other Texas counties. "I know I disagree with a lot of them," Rosenthal said of Perry's law-and-order proposals. "Life without parole sounds like a very good plan, but I don't think it is for several reasons." He said people who work in the penal system contend that inmates with no hope for parole are impossible to incarcerate. "I think you would find we'd have to build a whole lot more isolation cells," he said. Rosenthal also said he believes it would be human nature for juries to choose life without parole, even when a death penalty is warranted. Guadalupe County District Attorney W.C. "Bud" Kirkendall, chairman and past president of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, said Rosenthal's views are not widely shared. He said he didn't oppose giving juries the option of life without parole, and "I'm not aware of any (other) prosecutors that do."  "I don't think it would be a substantive difference from the way the law is now," Kirkendall said, referring to the 40-year minimum in life sentences.  Austin attorney Betty Blackwell, president elect of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, applauded Perry's spotlight on alternatives to execution. "Absolutely. That's something we've been trying to get for a number of years," she said. (Rick Halperin News)