Supreme Court grants Texas death row inmate Duane Buck new hearing

This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows death row inmate Duane Buck. Nearly two decades after a Texas jury sent Buck to death row for killing two people, including his ex-girlfriend, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to have a lower court review whether his sentence improperly was tainted by testimony and evidence referring to his black race. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP) less This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows death row inmate Duane Buck. Nearly two decades after a Texas jury sent Buck to death row for killing two people, including his ... more Photo: HOGP Photo: HOGP Image 1 of / 24 Caption Close Supreme Court grants Texas death row inmate Duane Buck new hearing 1 / 24 Back to Gallery

AUSTIN -- The U.S. Supreme Court grant condemned Houston murderer Duane Buck the right to ask for a new court hearing on his death sentence.

In a 6-2 decision, the high court mandated that Duane Buck, who has argued for years that his death sentenced by racially biased evidence at his trial, be allowed to go back to a lower court and request a new sentencing hearing due to legal questions in his 1995 case.

Among those reasons was that Buck's own lawyers introduced evidence at his trial that he was more likely to be dangerous in the future because he is black.

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Writing the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts said that Buck, in his appeals that have continued for years, has "demonstrated both ineffective assistance of counsel" and has an "entitlement to relief."

The justices sent the case back to a Houston court for further review.

He could now be resentenced again to death or given a life sentence.

Wednesday's decision came on the third review of Buck's case by the Supreme Court, and is one the highest-profile death penalty appeals pending in Texas due to its racial overtones and because of the effect it could have on other cases should Buck's sentence eventually be overturned. His case has been watched nationally for years.

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It comes at a time when two members of the Supreme Court, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Ginsburg, have argued the court should take another look at the constitutionality of the death penalty because of indications that it is being applied arbitrarily throughout the country.

Buck, 53, who was sentenced to death for the July 1995 slaying of his girlfriend, Debra Gardner, and her friend, Kenneth Butler, after he and Gardner had an argument.

Police reports at the time showed Buck shot his own sister and Butler after he barged into Gardner's home with a rifle. He then chased Gardner outside the residence, and shot her as her young daughter watched.

"The bitch, she deserved it," witnesses quoted Buck as saying after he shot Gardner, according to a prison report.

Read the full Supreme Court opinion. The story continues below...

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In court filings, Buck's attorneys did not argue his guilt in the case, only that the 1997 death sentence he was given. At issue is trial testimony in which a psychologist claimed Buck was more likely to remain a threat to society because he was black, an assertion that Buck's attorneys say underscores a racial bias in his sentencing that should overturn his death sentence.

Because a Texas death sentence requires a unanimous jury finding that the defendant will be likely to commit future acts of criminal violence, this was tantamount to saying that Mr. Buck's race rendered him more deserving of a death sentence, Buck's appellate attorneys have argued.

"Mr. Buck was sentenced to death after his own attorneys introduced an 'expert' who told the jury that Mr. Buck was more likely to be dangerous in the future because he is black," his current lawyers said in a prepared statement when the latest appeal was filed with the Supreme Court.

Buck's attorneys argued that the lawyer who represented him during his trial nearly 20 years ago provided ineffective assistance.

The justices agreed.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said Buck's case will be reviewed in light of the decision. "Racially charged evidence has no place in any courtroom and this administration will not tolerate its presence,"Ogg said in a statement. "We remain committed to seeking justice for the victims of Duane Buck's heinous criminal acts, and will do so without what Chief Justice Roberts described as the 'strain of racial prejudice' present at the 1997 trial in which Buck was convicted."

The statement noted that "Buck brutally murdered Debra Gardner and Kenneth Butler. Prior to committing capital murder, Buck had a criminal history involving weapons possession, drug dealing, aggravated assault, and domestic violence.

"Buck remains guilty of capital murder and this this office remains charged with the responsibility of seeking the appropriate punishment in this case," the statement reads. "Over the course of the next several weeks, this office will review Buck's case as it would all other capital murders, including an intensive and comprehensive evaluation of the facts of the case, as well as mitigation evidence presented by Buck's attorneys. We will also speak with the victims' families to ensure their opinions are considered."

Buck's attorneys applauded the decision.

"Racially charged evidence has no place in any courtroom and this administration will not tolerate its presence," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. "Confidence in our criminal justice system demands and requires much more," she continued. "We remain committed to seeking justice for the victims of Duane Buck's heinous criminal acts, and will do so without what Chief Justice Roberts described as the 'strain of racial prejudice' present at the 1997 trial in which Buck was convicted."

"Today, the Supreme Court made clear that there is no place for racial bias in the American criminal justice system," Christina Swarns, Buck's attorney and litigation director of NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said in a statement.

"By acknowledging that Mr. Buck's trial counsel's injection of racially biased evidence into the capital sentencing proceedings was unconstitutional, the Court has reaffirmed the longstanding principle that criminal punishments – particularly the death penalty – cannot be based on immutable characteristics such as race."

Kate Black, senior staff attorney at Texas Defender Service represents Buck, said Wednesday's decision "gives us hope that the ugliness of Mr. Buck's tainted death sentence will soon be put behind us and he will receive a life sentence."

One of Buck's trial prosecutors, the surviving victim, a former Texas Governor and more than 100 civil rights leaders, elected officials, clergy, former prosecutors and judges, and past American Bar Association presidents have supported Buck's claim that his racially-biased death sentence cannot stand.

"Today's ruling is a powerful statement from the U.S. Supreme Court, giving Texas the opportunity to finally do the right thing in Mr. Buck's case," said Sam Spital, co-counsel at the law firm of Holland & Knight LLP.

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