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Peter Duane Buck is A BAD GUY. Peter Duane Buck shot and killed his ex-girlfriend and another manĀ in front of her children. Peter Duane Buck showed no remorse. Again, Peter Duane Buck is A BAD GUY.
AND STILL, WE DON'T MAKE DEATH PENALTY DECISIONS BASED ON RACE. Not even for A BAD GUY. Not even in Texas.
In 1995, a jury convicted Mr. Buck, who is A BAD GUY, on two counts of murder. During the sentencing phase of his trial, the jury was instructed that they could only impose the death penalty if they found beyond a reasonable doubt that there wasĀ āa probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society.ā
Mr. Buck'sĀ own lawyerĀ called expert witness Dr. WalterĀ Quijano, who was at the time Big In WingnuttistanĀ for his theory that African Americans and Hispanics were inherently more prone to violence than whites.
In determining whether Buck was likely to pose a danger in the future, Dr. Quijano considered seven āstatistical factors.ā The fourth factor was ārace.ā His report read, in relevant part: ā4. Race. Black: Increased probability.There is an overrepresentation of Blacks among the violent offenders.ā
On the stand, Quijano testified that, "race is a know[n] factor to predict future dangerousness."
HE SEEMS NICE.

Least Racist Guy Ever....Well, Except for Trump
Dr. Quijano was even more helpful on cross examination.
[The prosecutor] asked first about the statistical factors of past crimes and age, then questioned Dr. Quijano about the roles of sex and race: āYou have determined that the sex factor, that a male is more violent than a female because thatās just the way it is, and that the race factor, black, increases the future dangerousnessfor various complicated reasons; is that correct?ā ...Ā Dr. Quijano replied, āYes.ā
Based in part on Quijano's testimony, the jury sentenced Buck to death.
Wow! Calling a witness who says your client is violent because he's black seems like some pretty shitty lawyering! But for some reason, Mr. Buck's first post-conviction lawyerĀ never cited ineffective assistance of counselĀ as grounds to overturn the death penalty on appeal. In other words, the second lawyer wasĀ just as shitty as the firstĀ . This original failure to appeal the death sentence based on incompetent counsel created serious procedural hurdles as the case spent 15 years winding its way through the court system.
Meanwhile, Dr. Quijano had developed quite a business testifying as an expert witnessĀ forĀ the State of Texas on his BROWN=VIOLENT theory. In 1999, one of the Quijano cases reached the Supreme Court, which held that, WTF?!? NO! YOU CANNOT SAY PEOPLE COMMIT CRIMES BECAUSE THEY'RE BLACK!! So, Texas finally had to admit that their star witness was a total loon.Ā Dangit, Dale!Ā
Following the Supreme Court smackdown, Texas Attorney General John Cornyn (now a Senator) agreedĀ to re-sentence six additional defendants who had been convicted based on Quijano's crackpot testimony, including Buck. But by 2002, Texas had decided that Buck was A BAD GUY, and they weren't responsible for the fact thatĀ his own attorneyĀ had been the one to call Quijano as a witness.
In 2014, Buck filed an appeal in Federal court on grounds of ineffective trial counsel, i.e. shitty lawyers who call racist witnesses. The District Court for the Southern District of Texas denied his appeal, in part because he was A BAD GUY, whose crimes were "horrific." They reasoned that his lousy lawyer and racist expert witness probably had no effect on the death penalty verdict, which the jury would have handed down anyway because...A BAD GUY. The Fifth Circuit agreed that Buck was definitely A BAD GUY, who would TOTES have gotten the death penalty in Hang 'Em High Texas, and so denied his appeal.
Yesterday, in a 6-2 decision,Ā the Supreme Court reversed the lower court's holdingĀ inĀ Buck v. DavisĀ and remanded Mr. Buck's case for re-sentencing. They found that, EVEN A BAD GUY IS ENTITLED TO A FAIR TRIAL, WITH A COMPETENT LAWYER, AND NO RACIST WITNESSES.
Let's hit the highlights.
Holy Shit! That sure is some Incompetent Lawyering!
Buckās trial counsel knew that Dr. Quijanoās report reflected the view that Buckās race predisposed him to violent conduct and that the principal point of dispute during the penalty phase was Buckās future dangerousness. Counsel nevertheless called Dr. Quijano to the stand, specifically elicited testimony about the connection between race and violence, and put Dr. Quijanoās report into evidence.No competent defense attorney would introduce evidence that his client is liable to be a future danger because of his race.
Cut the Crap! You Guys Knew This Case Was Tainted When You Threw It in the Pile With the Rest of Quijano's Bad Death Penalty Testimony
Regardless of which party first broached the subject, race was in all these cases put to the jury āas a factor . . . to weigh in making its determination.ā ...The statement that āit is inappropriate to allow race to be considered as a factor in our criminal justice systemā isequally applicable whether the prosecution or ineffective defense counsel initially injected raceinto the proceeding.
NO RACIST STUFF! Not even just a little bit! Seriously, Texas, how many times do we have to tell you this??
For these reasons,we cannot accept the District Courtās conclusion that āthe introduction of any mention of raceā during the penalty phase was āde minimis"[minimal]...when a jury hears expert testimony that expressly makes a defendantās race directly pertinent on the question of life or death, the impact of that evidence cannot be measured simply by how much air time it received at trial or how many pages it occupies in the record.Some toxins can be deadly in small doses.
These Shitty Lower Court Decisions Make The Whole Legal System Look Bad! You Guys are SO EMBARRASSING, OMG!
That it concerned race amplifies the problem. Relying on race to impose a criminal sanctionāpoisons public confidenceā in the judicial process.
Justices Thomas and Alito dissented, of course. BecauseĀ blahblahblahĀ A BAD GUY. And maybe the trial court will sentence Mr. BuckĀ to death again when it re-hears the penalty phase of his trial - the guilty verdict remains the same.
Dr. Quijano went on to serve forĀ six years as a psychologist for the Texas Youth CommissionĀ , working with kids in juvenile corrections facilities. His contract was terminated in 2011 when a state senator made Quijano's supervisor aware of his racist death penalty testimony. There was no word whether the supervisor has yet been made aware of The Google.
Ā [Buck v. Davis, Supreme Court 2017]Ā
Supreme Court To Texas: For The Last Time, There Is No 'Evil Black Guy' Standard!
FFS how dd this stinking pile of crap of a case ever get CLOSE to SCOTUS?
Ahhh....Texas maybe?