Texas News Service reports, "New Filings in "Racially Biased" TX Execution Case." It's written by PeterMalof.
Attorneys for a Texas man scheduled for execution in eight days are asking a federal judge to order a new sentencing trial, contending that Duane Buck's 1997 sentencing was unconstitutional.
Buck's was one of seven death-penalty cases that then-Attorney General John Cornyn wanted reviewed for what he called an "egregious error": An expert witness told juries that certain races were more likely to be dangerous in the future. While the other six eventually received new trials, Buck, who is African-American, "slipped through the procedural cracks," according to Andrea Keilen, executive director of the Texas Defender Service.
"The bottom line is that his trial was tainted by this racist evidence. So we're asking that he have a fair opportunity, in front of a jury that's not biased by this sort of thing, to argue for his life."
She says the Buck case highlights how the death penalty is sometimes applied unfairly, even after the question of guilt or innocence has been settled.
"Days from death house, killer seeks clemency," by Allan Turner in the Houston Chronicle.
In the summer of 2000, then-Texas Attorney General John Cornyn made an astounding admission: A psychiatrist's testimony in six capital murder cases - including that of Houston defendant Duane Edward Buck - wrongly had introduced race as a factor for consideration in the trials' punishment phases.
New punishment hearings were ordered for five of the men whose cases were on appeal in federal courts. But Buck, scheduled to be executed Sept. 15 for the July 1995 murders of his ex-girlfriend Debra Gardner and her friend Kenneth Butler, never got a new punishment hearing in what his lawyers contend was an oversight.
Now, Buck's Texas Defender Service Lawyers are asking the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend that Gov. Rick Perry spare his life.
"The state of Texas cannot and should not tolerate an execution on the basis of an individual's race, particularly where this state's highest legal officer has acknowledged the error, not only in similarly situated cases, but in this case," the clemency petition, by lawyers David Dow and Katherine Black, argues.
Alternately, the petition asks for a 120-day reprieve to pursue a new sentencing hearing. Although the other five killers received new hearings, all again were sentenced to death. One has been executed.
The problem in Buck's case arose when Dr. Walter Quijano, a defense psychiatrist, testified that the killer would not likely pose a future danger to society if imprisoned. "Future danger" is a key question jurors must consider before assessing a death sentence.
On cross-examination, however, the doctor agreed to a prosecutor's assertion that being African-American enhanced chances for future violence. That comment became a key factor in the state's push for execution.
Today's federal court filing is available via Sribd.
Earlier coverage of Duane Buck's case begins at the link.
The clemency petition for Duane Edward Buck is available via Sribd. Those who would like to urge clemency can sign on to a statement at Change.org.
Related posts are in the future dangerousness index.
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