Is a Texas Inmate Sentenced to Die Because He's Black? (VIDEO)

A Texas man on death row is asking for a new sentencing hearing and has many supporters, but not because he’s innocent.

Duane Buck was sentenced in Harris County, Texas (Houston) to die at his 1997 capital sentencing hearing. During the hearing the trial prosecutor elicited testimony from a psychologist, Dr. Walter Quijano, indicating that African Americans, are more likely to commit future acts of violence.

During closing arguments, the prosecutor relied on Dr. Quijano’s testimony that Mr. Buck would be more dangerous in the future, fulfilling the requirement for the death sentence that prosecutors must show a defendant’s “future dangerousness.”

Mr. Buck has now filed an appeal asking for a new sentencing hearing claiming his death sentence was the unconstitutional product of racial discrimination. Additionally, the American Bar Association has published a press release expressing their own concern on the matter that can be found here and many others including civil rights leaders, elected officials, clergy, former prosecutors and judges, past ABA presidents, and a former Texas governor.

STATEMENT OF LAUREL BELLOWS, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION

RE: DEATH SENTENCE OF DUANE BUCK

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 19, 2013 — The American Bar Association is concerned about the case of Duane Buck, a death-sentenced man in Texas. It is undisputed that the prosecution improperly put the assertion before the jury that he was “dangerous” because he was black, and this assertion sealed Buck’s fate.

In 2000, the Texas attorney general publicly stated that Buck deserved a new sentencing hearing because his death sentence was secured using inappropriate race-based testimony. New research has now confirmed that the Harris County district attorney’s office was three times more likely to seek the death penalty against African-American defendants like Buck, and Harris County juries were twice as likely to sentence African-American defendants like Buck to death. Yet Buck has yet to receive a new sentencing hearing.

Any defendant in these circumstances has the right to be heard regarding whether there was a fair trial. The American Bar Association abhors racial prejudice and discrimination of any kind, and it should go without saying that no one should be executed when there is a substantial issue whether race-based testimony infected the fairness of legal proceedings. As two U.S. Supreme Court justices have written about the case, Buck’s death sentence requires additional judicial review because “our criminal justice system should not tolerate” a death sentence “marred by racial overtones.” The ABA urges that Buck receive a new and fair sentencing hearing free of racial prejudice.

You can watch a clip from CNN on his pending appeal below:

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Is a Texas Inmate Sentenced to Die Because He’s Black? (VIDEO)