The US Supreme Court halted the execution on Thursday of a black man convicted of a double murder in Texas 16 years ago after his lawyers contended his sentence was unfair because of a question asked about race during his trial.
Duane Buck, 48, was spared from lethal injection when the justices agreed to review an appeal in his case. Two appeals, both related to a psychologist’s testimony that black people were more likely to commit violence, were before the court. One was granted; the other was denied.
Buck was sentenced to death for the fatal shootings of his ex-girlfriend and a man in her apartment in July 1995. Buck’s guilt is not being questioned, but his lawyers say the jury was unfairly influenced and that he should receive a new sentencing hearing. His attorneys appealed to the Supreme Court and Texas Governor Rick Perry to block the execution, saying a psychologist testified that black people were more likely to commit violence.
Buck’s case is one of six convictions that then-Texas attorney general John Cornyn — a political ally of Perry who is now a Republican US senator — reviewed in 2000 and said needed to be reopened because of the racial reference. In the other five cases, new punishment hearings were held and each convict was again sentenced to die. State attorneys contend Buck’s case was different from the others and that the racial reference was a small part of larger testimony about prison populations.
Perry is a capital punishment supporter and as frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination his actions are now coming under closer scrutiny. During his 11 years in office, 235 convicted killers have been put to death in Texas. His office said he has chosen to halt just four executions, including one for a woman who was later executed.
The reprieve from the US’ -highest court came nearly two hours into a six-hour window when Buck could have been taken to the death chamber.
Texas officials, however, refused to move forward with the punishment while legal issues were pending.
In its one-paragraph decision, the court said it stopped the punishment so it could further look at Buck’s request, known as a writ of certiori. If the court decided against the writ, the justices said the reprieve would be lifted, making Buck eligible to receive a new execution date.
“We are relieved that the US Supreme Court recognized the obvious injustice of allowing a defendant’s race to factor into sentencing decisions and granted a stay of execution to Duane Buck,” said one of Buck’s attorneys, Kate Black.
Buck was convicted of gunning down ex-girlfriend Debra Gardner, 32, and Kenneth Butler, 33, outside Houston on July, 30, 1995, a week after Buck and Gardner broke up. A third person, Buck’s stepsister, Phyllis Taylor, was also wounded, though she has since forgiven Buck and sought for his death sentence to be commuted to life in prison.
Buck’s attorneys went to the Supreme Court after losing appeals in lower courts. A clemency request to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, all of whom are Perry appointees, also failed.
Perry was not in the state on Thursday, meaning any final order to delay would have come from Texas Lieutenant-Governor David Dewhurst. However, the court’s ruling meant neither Perry nor Dewhurst had to act on a request from Buck’s lawyers that the governor use his authority to issue a one-time 30-day reprieve.
Texas Assistant Attorney-General Edward Marshall told the Supreme Court on Thursday that Buck’s appeals were attempts to relitigate claims that every court, including the Supreme Court, already rejected.
“The record in Buck’s case reveals that no constitutional violation occurred during his sentencing trial,” he told the justices.
The execution would have been the second this week and the 11th this year in Texas. Two more Texas prisoners are set to die next week.
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