 On June 2, 2009, Texas carried out the 200th execution since Perry assumed the office of governor.As of August 10, 2011, Texas has carried out 234 executions since Rick Perry became governor.Under the Texas Constitution, the governor is not permitted to grant pardon, parole, or to commute a death penalty sentence to life imprisonment on his own initiative (the Constitution was changed in 1936 due to concerns that pardons were being sold for cash under the administrations of former Governor James E. Ferguson and later his wife and Texas' first female Governor Miriam A. Ferguson).