The Duane Buck Case

Discussions With DPI

Christina Swarns, lit­i­ga­tion direc­tor of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, speaks with DPIC Executive Director Robert Dunham about the case of Texas death-row pris­on­er Duane Buck and the impact of racial bias on deter­mi­na­tions of future dan­ger­ous­ness in death penal­ty cas­es. Ms. Swarns rep­re­sent­ed Mr. Buck in the U.S. Supreme Court in over­turn­ing his death sen­tence after his own lawyer pre­sent­ed an expert wit­ness who gave racial­ly biased tes­ti­mo­ny that Mr. Buck posed an increased risk of future dan­ger­ous­ness to soci­ety because he is black. Ms. Swarns dis­cuss­es the back­ground of the case and pro­vides con­text to the racial­ly dis­parate appli­ca­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the United States.