PERJURY (as it is commonly spelled by those who know such things) is not a death penalty offense, even in Texas .. although I wouldn't be sorry if they made it so.
Your assertion that people don't understand what crimes can result in the death penalty is unproven and only asserted by you. Do you have any statistical data or census data that shows such? If not, you are simply working off your hormones, your bleeding heart, and your wasted education. The crimes most associated with the death penalty are fairly easily understood ... after all, there aren't a lot of pirates being hung on gallows near the water's edge any more. The easiest thing to do is to obey the laws .. all of the laws, or at least as many as you can .. and you shouldn't have any worry about being put to death.
Personally, I hope that there are some out there who don't know if aggravated rape is a death penalty case in one State and not in another; the uncertainty might help keep them honest. If you murder .. and note that I make the use of the term "murder" in the most legalistic sense, not simply "killing" .. someone, you deserve to die. If you rape someone in a brutal and aggravated fashion, you deserve to die. If you maliciously injure, rape, or kill a child, you deserve to die. If you are a traitor .. and, here, I would advocate the most liberal sense of the word "treason" .. you deserve to die.
And I would be very happy to pull the lever needed to accomplish this most deserving end.
Well, the combination of perjury and trainwrecking *is* particularly abominable. :P
Since you're so "well read", let's have a list of the poor souls who have faced capital charges, let alone been sentenced to death, for plane hijacking and piracy since 1976.
Interesting. None of these offenses are the sort that would be committed by an honest person. Maybe we're better off with this ilk.