Is Harris County 'bloodthirsty' - or dead right?

• A Potentially Wrongful Execution Pending in Texas

The chief witness against him lied. The crime lab botched his case. At least three jurors say that if they had it to do over again, they probably would not send Nanon Williams to death row. But that is where he remains, nine years after his conviction in Houston for capital murder. "The state of Texas," he said, "would rather kill me than have someone admit he made a mistake." Actually, the state freely admits multiple mistakes in the case. But the man who prosecuted him says Mr. Williams still should be executed. "I'm very comfortable the right person is on death row," said Vic Wisner, a felony chief for the Harris County district attorney's office. Mr. Williams was 17 when he was arrested on a murder charge. On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of the death penalty for crimes committed under the age of 18. The fates of 73 death row inmates -- 29 of them from Texas -- hang in the balance.   To understand how Mr. Williams got to the Polunsky Unit prison in Livingston, lawyers say, it's important to note where he started: Harris County, which sends more juvenile offenders to death row than any other Texas county. "We're bloodthirsty here," said George McCall Secrest Jr., a former Harris prosecutor who now does criminal defense. "The politicians have found this is a horse they can ride all the way to the polls." [more