Condemned to Die Because He’s Black
Condemned to Die Because He’s Black
This man could be put to death in Texas literally because he is Black. The judge in the case allowed his race to justify "future dangerousness".
This is lynch law. This is America.
Even one of the trial prosecutors Linda Geffin, is so appalled (because everyone convicted with "future dangerousness" was supposed to get a new hearing) that she started a petition saying he deserves a new hearing. Please sign. 22,636 more signatures NEEDED
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NEARLY 50 years after the end of Jim Crow, African-Americans are still facing execution because of their race.
Duane Buck could end up being one of them. He was convicted in 1997 of the murders of two people in Harris County, Tex., home to the city of Houston. He does not deny his guilt in these terrible crimes, so there is no question that he must be punished. But what happened at Mr. Buck’s sentencing hearing is appalling, even for Texas, which was once among the handful of states that led the country in the lynching of African-American men and which is now the country’s most prolific executioner.
During the presentation of evidence at the penalty phase of Mr. Buck’s trial — when the jury was required to decide between the death penalty and a life sentence — the trial prosecutor elicited testimony from a psychologist for the defense indicating that Mr. Buck’s race made him more likely to be violent in the future.
The prosecutor asked, “You have determined that the sex factor, that a male is more violent than a female because that’s just the way it is, and that the race factor, black, increases the future dangerousness for various complicated reasons; is that correct?”
“Yes,” the psychologist, Walter Quijano, answered.
Because a finding of future dangerousness is a prerequisite for a death sentence in Texas, the prosecutor then argued in closing that the jury should rely on that race-based expert testimony to find that Mr. Buck would pose a future danger. The jury accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation, and Mr. Buck was sentenced to death.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/01/opinion/condemned-to-die-because-hes-black.html
Here is the petition:
In 1997, a jury in Harris County, Texas, sentenced Duane Buck to death. I know because I was one of the prosecutors.
I am speaking out against his execution because the Texas criminal justice system cannot allow considerations of race to be placed in front of the jury, as it was in this case.
The jury was told that Mr. Buck was more likely to pose a future danger to society because he is African American. This inappropriate and offensive reliance on race was so improper that in 2000, the Texas Attorney General said that all seven defendants who had racially inappropriate evidence presented against them were entitled to new, fair, and color-blind sentencing hearings. Mr. Buck is the only one of the seven defendants who has not received a resentencing.
Mr. Buck must be punished for his crime, however, the former Texas Attorney General was correct when he said that ‘it is inappropriate to allow race to be considered as a factor in our criminal justice system.’ Mr. Buck should not stand alone as the only one of the seven defendants who has not received his new sentencing hearing.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office has a unique moment to demonstrate that Harris County will be guided by equality and justice – particularly when the ultimate punishment is on the line.
Read more at: http://www.naacpldf.org/case-issue/duane-buck-sentenced-death-because-he-black
Listen to the surviving victim of Duane’s crime explain why she does not want him to be executed:
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