The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a bi-partisan coalition of 40 prominent Latino organizations, has endorsed abolition of the death penalty. According to Juan Cartagena, co-chair of the NHLA Civil Rights committee and president of LatinoJustice, “The racialized aspects of the imposition of the death penalty in the United States could not just be overlooked, and that became the unifying piece.”
Tag: racial bias
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Buck v. Stephens, a Texas death penalty case raising extraordinary issues of racial bias. Duane Buck was condemned to death in 1997 in Harris County after his own trial attorneys inexplicably introduced testimony from a psychologist who stated that Buck was more likely to be dangerous in the future because he is Black.
In this edition of our monthly newsletter, you’ll find information about scheduled executions in Texas, as well as a recap of a recent Supreme Court decision rebuking prosecutors for racially discriminatory practices in a capital murder trial. You’ll also learn about actions that United Methodists in Texas are taking to affirm their church’s opposition to the death penalty.
In this edition of our monthly e-newsletter, you’ll find updates on several Texas death penalty cases, as well as the results of the Kinder Institute’s latest Houston Area Survey, which finds that 73% of Houstonians support alternatives to the death penalty.
The case of Duane Buck has cast a national spotlight on race and the Texas death penalty for the past month, for good reason: his death sentence is the unconstitutional product of racial discrimination. He was condemned to death after his own trial attorneys inexplicably introduced testimony from a psychologist who stated that Mr. Buck was more likely to be dangerous in the future because he is Black. His case, Buck v. Stephens, is now on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Late today the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a stay of execution to Julius Murphy, pending further order from the court. Murphy was scheduled to be executed on November 3 for […]
Today, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the appeal of Texas death sentenced prisoner, Duane Buck. Mr. Buck is seeking a new, fair sentencing hearing, free of racial bias. At his capital sentencing, Mr. Buck’s trial attorneys presented an expert who testified that Mr. Buck would be more likely to be dangerous in the future because he is Black.