In a state where shocking injustices are all too familiar, Duane Buck’s looming death sentence in Texas manages to stand out.
During Buck’s capital trial, his lawyers put an expert before the jury, Dr. Walter Quijano, who testified that Buck was more likely to commit future violent crimes simply because he is black. Texas law requires a finding of future dangerousness to support a capital verdict. The prosecutors made sure on cross-examination that Quijano repeated his conclusion, and Buck was sentenced to death. That was in 1997.
