This death sentence must be set aside

Texas should give Duane Buck a new sentencing trial on his 1997 murder conviction.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Buck’s appeal on Wednesday.

Buck’s death sentence must not be carried out — at the very least not until after his sentencing has been cleansed of its original, blatant racial bias.

Better yet, his new sentence should be what he would probably get today, life without parole.

Buck killed his ex-girlfriend, Debra Gardner, and her companion, Kenneth Butler, in the early morning of July 30, 1995, at her Houston home.

His case shows how messy death penalty cases can be. Beginning in 1995, when Texas approved the life-without-parole option, prosecutors and juries increasingly have moved away from the death penalty.

In testimony ironically presented by Buck’s own attorney, psychologist Walter Quijano testified at the original trial that Buck posed a future danger because he is black. A jury’s unanimous finding of future danger is required for the death penalty.

Racial bias simply has no place in criminal justice or elsewhere.

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 5:58 PM with the headline "This death sentence must be set aside."