Decent reporting. We don't get a sense of what Texans feel about the accomplice law that put Foster on death row, nor do we get a sense of whether the Texas legislature is likely to abolish the law.

Story seems to take place in a vacuum. Breaking news obviously can't deliver all the background that could help readers know what's going on, but surely the Times has a morgueful of data on Texas executions and the policy in Illinois that could be plugged in easily enough. (and did I dream that a few years back the Supremes refused to stay a Texas execution even though some one else had confessed to the crime, on the grounds that Texas had the right to carry out its laws in the most convenient manner?)

An interesting story on a guy who probably doesn't deserve the death penalty, although surely if you act as driver for an armed robbery 'spree' you might expect someone to get killed. Would that the NYT would cover equally the deserved execution of some brutal murderers.