A case now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court presents a disturbing question about racial discrimination in the imposition of the death penalty: Is it “extraordinary” to sentence a black man to death based on “expert” testimony — introduced by his own trial counsel — that he is more likely to be dangerous because he is black?
Due purely to the incompetence of his court-appointed lawyers, no court has ever fully considered the merits of Duane Buck’s argument that this racially charged testimony denied him a fair trial. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit nonetheless held that Buck’s circumstances were not sufficiently “extraordinary” to justify even considering his claim of racial discrimination.
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