The supreme court is strongly indicating it will side with a black Texas prison inmate who argues improper testimony about his race tainted his death sentence. Conservative and liberal justices alike agreed Wednesday that inmate Duane Buck is entitled to a new court hearing. The only issue in arguments at the high court appeared to be whether to throw out Buck’s sentence altogether and order a new punishment hearing. The court also could merely instruct lower courts to decide whether the death sentence can stand. Buck’s case was among six in 2000 that then-Texas attorney general John Cornyn in a news release said needed to be reopened because statements by the expert witness, Dr Walter Quijano, were racially charged.

Source: The Guardian October 05, 2016 19:52 UTC