Representation
,Aug 18, 2016
Harris County, Texas has sent more people to death row than any other county in the United States and Jerry Guerinot (pictured) was defense counsel for twenty-one of them. His death-sentenced clients included two …
Arbitrariness
,Race
,United States Supreme Court
,Aug 09, 2016
Five groups, representing defense lawyers, former prosecutors, and organizations devoted to protecting constitutional liberties have filed amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Texas death row prisoner Duan…
Race
,United States Supreme Court
,Jun 09, 2017
Thirty years ago, filmmaker Errol Morris, who directed the documentary “The Thin Blue Line,” helped to exonerate Texas death-row prisoner Dale Adams, falsely accused of murdering a police officer. During the course of making the f…
Race
,Sentencing Data
,Oct 04, 2017
Duane Buck (pictured), the Texas death-row prisoner whose controversial racially tainted death sentence was reversed by the U.S Supreme Court i…
Arbitrariness
,Race
,Dec 08, 2016
Since 1973, juries in Texas have had to determine whether a defendant presents a future danger to society before imposing a death sentence. But while they have found that each of the 244 men and women currently on the state’s deat…
Arbitrariness
,Race
,Aug 27, 2015
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected an appeal in the case of Texas death row inmate Duane Buck
Arbitrariness
,Mar 09, 2017
In a new article for the Lewis & Clark Law Review, author Carla Edmondson argues that the future dangerousness inquiry that is implicit in capital setencing determinations “is a fundamentally flawed question that leads to arbitrary and capricious …
Arbitrariness
,New Voices
,Aug 08, 2017
Mark White (official portrait, pictured), a former governor and attorney general of Texas who became an outspoken critic of the death penalty, died on August 5 at the age of 77. Mr. White served as governor from 1983 to 1987, duri…
Race
,United States Supreme Court
,Jun 28, 2017
In DPIC’s latest podcast, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Litigation Director Christina Swarns (pictured, center, outside the U.S. Supreme Court following the argument …
Race
,New Voices
,Sep 12, 2011
Linda Geffin (pictured) was one of the Texas prosecutors who won a conviction and death sentence for Duane Buck in 1997. She is now the division chief of the Special Prosecutions Unit in the Offic…
Arbitrariness
,Race
,United States Supreme Court
,Sep 02, 2011
Texas inmate Duane Buck (pictured) is one of seven death row inmates whose death sentences were tainted by improper racial testimony presented at their trials. In 2000, then-Texas Attorney General John Cor…
Race
,Mar 14, 2013
A new study regarding the use of the death penalty in Harris County, Texas, was released in conjunction with the filing of an appeal by Harris County death row inmate, Duane Buck. The research was conducted by Pro…
Innocence
,Race
,Recent Legislative Activity
,Apr 18, 2013
Two bills under consideration in Texas aim to address issues in the state’s death penalty. House Bill 2458 would allow defendants to appeal their death sentences if they can prove that race was a significant factor in the decision…
Arbitrariness
,Mental Illness
,Apr 02, 2020
Courts are failing badly in keeping junk psychological science out of the courtroom in criminal cases, permitting the admission of psychological tests that have never been reviewed for reliability and others that have been found unreliable, a rece…
Race
,Representation
,United States Supreme Court
,Feb 22, 2017
Saying that the “law punishes people for what they do, not who they are,” the Supreme Court on February 22, 2017, granted relief to Duane Buck (pictured, right), a Texas death-row prisoner who was…
Arbitrariness
,Race
,Apr 15, 2016
UPDATE: The Supreme Court docket indicates that its conferencing of Mr. Buck’s case, originally set for April 22, has been rescheduled. The Court is now scheduled to considering the case on April 29. PREVIOUSLY: On April 22, the U.S. Supreme Court…
Intellectual Disability
,Race
,United States Supreme Court
,Jun 06, 2016
On June 6, the U.S. Supreme Court granted writs of certiorari in two Texas death penalty cases, and will review the constitutionality of those death sentences during its next term. The two cases are
Mental Illness
,Race
,Feb 11, 2020
Andre Thomas (pictured) is a Texas death-row prisoner riven with schizophrenia so severe that, in separate incidents, he gouged out both of his eyes and ate one of them. The U.S. Court of Appeals heard oral argume…
Arbitrariness
,Race
,Nov 20, 2013
In a 6 – 3 decision on November 20, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied a request from death row inmate Duane Buck for a new sentencing hearing, despite the fact that racially prejudicial statements had been …
Arbitrariness
,Race
,Sentencing Data
,Feb 11, 2016
Duane Buck, who was sentenced to death after a defense expert witness testified that Buck could pose a future danger to society because he is black, has asked the U.S. Suprem…
Race
,Jun 28, 2017
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 …
Race
,United States Supreme Court
,Nov 08, 2011
On November 7, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant review to Texas inmate Duane Buck. Buck sought a new sentencing trial because of testimony suggesting he posed a greater danger to society b…
Innocence
,Representation
,United States Supreme Court
,Executions Overview
,Sep 21, 2011
Desert Storm veteran Cleve Foster (pictured), who faced execution in Texas for the third time this year for a murder nearly a decade ago, was granted another stay by the U.S. Supreme Court on Sept…
Arbitrariness
,Race
,United States Supreme Court
,Oct 06, 2016
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument on October 5 in Buck v. Davis, a Texas case in which …
