Will Texas Execute a Man for Being Black?

Duane Buck is guilty of murder. Of that, there is no question. In 1995 he shot and killed his then-girlfriend as well as her male companion in her Houston, Texas, apartment. Not surprisingly, in execution-prone Texas, Buck was sentenced to the death penalty for his crime.
What seems on the surface to be an open-and-shut murder conviction, however, has become one of the most racially explosive cases of the past several decades—unveiling evidence of systemic racial discrimination in Texas’s criminal justice system. The problem with Buck’s case is this: During the penalty phase of the trial, Harris County prosecutors benefitted from the testimony of controversial psychologist Walter Quijano.

Asked in open court if “the race factor, black” increased Buck’s risk of reoffending, Quijano answered “yes.” The so-called expert went on to testify that being either African American or Latino “increases the future dangerousness for various complicated reasons.” In Texas, “future dangerousness” is one of the key factors in determining whether a person is eligible for capital punishment. By allowing Quijano’s testimony to stand, Harris County has established that race can be used as a significant justification for meting out the death penalty.
In 2000, then-Texas Attorney General John Cornyn reviewed seven cases where Quijano had presented racially biased expert testimony—including Buck’s–and determined that all were in need of resentencing. Six of those cases were indeed resentenced. Buck’s was the only one that was not. His execution could be scheduled to take place at any moment, and Texas authorities have shown no signs of backing down and living up to Cornyn’s promise.
“It sets a very uncomfortable precedent for what the state can get away with,” says Swarns. “This is a death case. If the state can get away with relying on overt racism, admit their error, and then go back on their efforts to remedy the situations, it means there are no limits. It not only sets a dangerous precedent for people of color, that their race can be used against them, but for everyone.” On Wednesday, March 13, Buck’s attorney’s filed a habeus petition to reverse his execution sentence, challenging the capital punishment ruling on constitutional grounds.
 Of the 21 cases most similar to Buck’s in Harris County, 70 percent of African American men faced the death penalty, while only 20 percent of white men did.
“The discrimination Mr. Buck faced did not occur in a vacuum,” says Black. Whether that argument will find sway in the Texas appeals process remains to be seen. The issue may very well head to the Supreme Court, which granted Buck a previous 11th hour stay back in September of 2011, 90 minutes before he was set to be executed. Swarns says she hopes it won’t come to that again: “It isn’t the ’30s. Where we are now in our society, this case shouldn’t be a big lift. It’s outrageous to anybody who you explain it too. And yet, here we are.”
Mystery Ads Remind New Yorkers About 21st-Century Racism. Racism in America is indeed a thing of the past. Unfortunately, it is also something we need to deal with in the present.

Anyone walking the streets of Brooklyn the past couple of weeks has probably experienced a heightened awareness of his or her personal likelihood of being randomly stopped and frisked by undercover police officers.