U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt over­turned the cap­i­tal con­vic­tion of Carl Wayne Buntion, not­ing that the Texas tri­al judge who sen­tenced him to death had a ​“deep-seat­ed and vocal bias” against Buntion. In a 61-page opin­ion, Hoyt stat­ed that state District Judge Bill Harmon deprived Buntion of his con­sti­tu­tion­al right to a fair tri­al by bul­ly­ing his attor­neys, meet­ing pri­vate­ly with pros­e­cu­tors and defer­ring to their wish­es, and mak­ing remarks in court such as he was ​“doing God’s work” by see­ing that Buntion was exe­cut­ed. Hoyt also found that Harmon had placed a Judge Roy Bean post­card on his bench dur­ing jury selec­tion for the tri­al, an act that gave the impres­sion that he was a ​“hangin’ judge.” Hoyt not­ed that ​“Judge Harmon decid­ed that Buntion was guilty and should die” even before the tri­al began.


Buntion had been sen­tenced to die for the 1991 killing of police offi­cer James Irby dur­ing a traf­fic stop, an act he claims was done in self defense. The Texas Attorney General’s Office has 30 days to decide whether to appeal Hoyt’s deci­sion. (Houston Chronicle, May 2, 2006).

See DPIC’s report Killing Justice: Government Misconduct and the Death Penalty.

Citation Guide