Governor Rick Perry draws applause on death penalty

The audience at the GOP Presidential debate responded with applause when Governor Rick Perry answered a question about his advocacy of the death penalty.

When he said he loses no sleep over his participation and his denial of stays of execution, people applauded loudly.

Critics point to findings of the Texas Commission on Forensic Science that the arson investigation of Todd Willingham, a Corsicana man convicted of burning his house to kill his family, was flawed and merited further study.

In that case, the Governor refused to grant a stay of execution to provide time for attorneys to file appeals motions with the appropriate courts.

Other cases on appeal by such legal organizations as the Innocence Project have questioned DNA evidence that excludes all but one suspect versus billions of other people on the planet.

The Governor remains resolute. He referred to the Texas death penalty appeals process as "a very thorough, a very fair" way of establishing whether an accused offender has been given a fair trial based on the evidence presented by prosecutors.