Duane Buck Prosecutor Urges Clemency

Duane Edward Buck

A lawyer who worked on the Harris County District Attorney's prosecution team that sent Duane Edward Buck to death row is calling on state officials to halt the execution scheduled for Thursday and allow for a new sentencing trial in the case.

Buck was convicted of murdering two people in Houston in 1997. During his trial, psychologist Dr. Walter Quijano told jurors that the fact he was black meant Buck was more likely to be violent in the future. Quinjano gave similar testimony in six other death row cases, and in each, the defendants were given new trials to determine their sentences. Buck, though, has not been allowed a new trial despite an admission from then-Attorney General John Cornyn that the state erred by allowing the racially tinged testimony.

"When a defendant’s race is introduced as a factor in guilt or sentencing – even inadvertently – the integrity of the case is compromised," said Mark MacDougall, a pro bono lawyer at Akin Gump, who often works with indigent defendants in death penalty cases. "The only remedy is a new trial. This is never more critical than in a capital murder case."

As his execution date approaches, Buck's lawyers are calling on the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Gov. Rick Perry to grant clemency and allow a new trial to determine his sentence. Last week, one of Buck's surviving victims urged clemency on his behalf.

Today, Linda Geffin, who served as second chair during the initial Buck prosecution, wrote a letter calling on Perry and the parole board to halt the execution and allow for a new trial untainted by racial questions.

"It is regrettable that any race-based considerations were placed before Mr. Buck's jury," she wrote. "No individual should be executed without being afforded a fair trial, untainted by considerations of race."

Source: The Texas Tribune, September 12, 2011

September 13 UPDATE

Panel refuses to commute Houston killer's execution

Houston auto mechanic Duane Buck moved a step closer to execution today as the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected his bid to commute his death sentence to life without parole.

Buck, 48, is scheduled to be executed Thursday for the 1995 murders of his former girlfriend, Debra Gardner, and her friend, Kenneth Butler. Buck also shot his sister, Phyllis Taylor, in the chest at point-blank range.

Taylor, who survived the attack, has been among clergymen, lawyers and others who have asked that the killer's life be spared. Earlier this week, Taylor met with pardons board Chairwoman Rissie Owens on her brother's behalf.

Efforts to spare Buck focus on testimony of defense expert witness Walter Quijano, a psychologist. During cross-examination in the 1997 murder trial's punishment phase, Quijano said being black could contribute to an inmate's future dangerousness.

An inmate's future dangerousness is a key element jurors must consider before assessing the death penalty.

In 2000, then-Texas Attorney General John Cornyn identified Buck's case among six capital murder trials he believed might have been tainted by Quijano's testimony. Federal courts ordered new punishment hearings for the other five killers, all of whom were again sentenced to die.

Buck's court efforts all failed.

Also supporting Buck's clemency bid was former Harris County Assistant District Attorney Linda Geffin, who assisted in prosecuting Buck. Now chief of the Harris County Attorney's special prosecution unit, Geffin wrote the pardons board that she agreed with Cornyn's 2000 assertion that race should not affect criminal justice proceedings.

Buck's lawyers had asked the pardons board to recommend commutation or the granting of a 120-day reprieve to Gov. Rick Perry, who would have made the final decision in the case.

Source: Houston Chronicle, Sept. 13, 2011

Please join former ADA Linda Geffin, former Harris County District Judge Lupe Salinas, State Senator Rodney Ellis, and surviving victim Phyllis Taylor, in urging state officials to intervene before it's too late. Sign the petition at http://chn.ge/qGuvLW

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