"Duane Buck case live chat: what's next for inmate sentenced by race?" will go live in just over an hour, at 12:00 noon (CDT), 1:00 pm (EDT).
Join Ed Pilkington and Christina Swarns, director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, to discuss Buck's case.
What does his case tell us about the way African Americans are treated generally in the application of the death penalty in America? Join Guardian reporter Ed Pilkington and Christina Swarns, director of the NAACP legal defence and educational fund, to discuss the case from 1 to 2pm ET Wednesday.
Other questions to consider:
• What is the current role of race in US capital punishment?
• Why do his advocates say Buck was sentenced to death because of his race?
• How did Buck's lawyer allow such evidence to be presented in court?
• What is the status of Buck's new sentencing hearing?
Guardian writer Pilkington also posts, "Texas convict's death row sentence challenged over claim of racial bias."
More than 100 prominent civil rights leaders, lawyers, politicians and clergy are calling on the state of Texas to provide a new fair sentencing hearing for Duane Buck, the African American man who was put on death row in 1997 after the jury was told he was a danger to society because he was black.
The Buck case is rapidly becoming a focal point for anxieties that the application of the death penalty across America is riddled with racial discrimination. Last week an appeal was filed in the Buck case that included new research showing that at the time of his sentence black defendants in Houston, Texas – the death penalty capital of the US – were three times more likely to be charged with a capital crime than whites.
The statement put out by 102 national and Texan leaders calls for a new fair sentencing hearing for Buck that would be free from racial bias. "The state of Texas cannot condone any form of racial discrimination in the courtroom. The use of race in sentencing poisons the legal process and breeds cynicism in the judiciary," it says.
The signatories include Linda Geffin, who was one of the prosecutors in the original trial of Buck, as well as Phyllis Taylor who was shot by Buck but survived. The statement says that Taylor has "forgiven Mr Buck and does not wish to see him executed".
Earlier coverage of Duane Buck's case begins at the link. Related posts are in the race category index.
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