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Texas Matters: Supreme Court To Look At Race In Texas Death Row Sentence

This week the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear two Texas death row cases. The defendant in one of the cases is Bobby James Moore and centers on questions of intellectual incompetence and eligibility for execution.

Duane Buck is the defendant second case. Buck shot and killed his ex-girlfriend Debra Gardner and her friend Kenneth Butler. The issue before the court is racial bias. During Sentencing Buck who is an African American was called a future danger to society simply because he is Black.

Linda Geffin was one of the prosecutors in the Buck trial but now says the sentencing was racially tainted, wrong and unfair.

David Martin Davies can be reached at dmdavies@tpr.org and on Twitter at @DavidMartinDavi