Texas death row inmate Duane Buck must be given a new sentencing trial or his death sentence must be reduced to life in prison, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Thursday.

The order followed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in February that determined that Buck’s original sentence had been tainted by racial bias in the courtroom.

After Buck was found guilty in the 1995 killing of his ex-girlfriend and another man, a psychologist testified that he was more likely to be dangerous because he was black. The 5th Circuit Court had originally ruled that the testimony was of little consequence, but the Supreme Court rejected that finding in a sometimes sharply worded opinion.

"Our law punishes people for what they do, not who they are," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the 6-2 ruling, adding that the testimony "appealed to a powerful racial stereotype — that of black men as ‘violence prone.’"

Thursday’s order returned Buck’s case to a Harris County trial court for further action.