***Race Card Alert*** Yet Another Reason That Texas Is Fucked Up!!!!

[thoughtone]

source: Forbes

Texas Gov. Rick Perry asked to halt execution

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- Lawyers for a black man set for execution Thursday are calling on Texas Gov. Rick Perry to halt the punishment because an expert witness told jurors that black criminals were more likely to pose a future danger to the public if they are released.

<!--Display the nav box on the first page and for the remaining pages display it depending on the value of show nav box on all pages in cms/metadata-->Perry, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, is an ardent supporter of capital punishment. During his 11 years in office, 235 convicted killers have been put to death in Texas and his office says he has chosen to halt just four executions, including one for a woman who was later put to death.

<!--Display the nav box on the first page and for the remaining pages display it depending on the value of show nav box on all pages in cms/metadata-->But Duane Buck's case is one of six convictions that former Texas Attorney General John Cornyn - a political ally of Perry who is now a Republican U.S. senator - reviewed in 2000 and said needed to be reopened because of the racially charged statements made during the sentencing phase of the trial.

<!--Display the nav box on the first page and for the remaining pages display it depending on the value of show nav box on all pages in cms/metadata-->Prosecutors repeated the sentencing hearings in the five other cases - with all five again being sentenced to death - but Buck's case was never reopened.

<!--Display the nav box on the first page and for the remaining pages display it depending on the value of show nav box on all pages in cms/metadata-->If courts continue to reject Buck's appeals, only Perry could delay the lethal injection by invoking his authority to issue a one-time 30-day reprieve for further review. Critics are watching what Perry will do after he said during a presidential debate that he has never been troubled by any of the executions he's overseen as governor.

<!--Display the nav box on the first page and for the remaining pages display it depending on the value of show nav box on all pages in cms/metadata-->Buck, 48, was convicted of gunning down ex-girlfriend Debra Gardner, 32, and Kenneth Butler, 33, outside Houston in July, 30, 1995, a week after Buck and Gardner broke up. Buck's guilt is not being questioned, but his lawyers say the jury was unfairly influenced and that he should receive a new sentencing hearing

A third person, Buck's stepsister, Phyllis Taylor, also was wounded, though she has since forgiven Buck and sought for his death sentence to be commuted to life in prison.

<!--Display the nav box on the first page and for the remaining pages display it depending on the value of show nav box on all pages in cms/metadata-->Gardner's 14-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son were among those who witnessed the shootings. Officers testified that Buck was laughing during and after his arrest, saying that Gardner deserved what she got.

<!--Display the nav box on the first page and for the remaining pages display it depending on the value of show nav box on all pages in cms/metadata-->The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, all of whom are Perry appointees, denied Buck's clemency request Wednesday, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently rejected his appeal.

<!--Display the nav box on the first page and for the remaining pages display it depending on the value of show nav box on all pages in cms/metadata-->Buck's lawyers contend the case was "tainted by considerations of race" after a psychologist at his trial, Walter Quijano, testified in response to a question from lead prosecutor Joan Huffman that black criminals are more likely to be violent again in the future. Whether or not someone could be a continuing threat to society is one of three questions Texas jurors must consider when deciding on a death sentence.

<!--Display the nav box on the first page and for the remaining pages display it depending on the value of show nav box on all pages in cms/metadata-->Cornyn, who was then the attorney general, said in a news release in 2000 that a
half-dozen capital case sentences, including Buck's, needed review because of Quijano's testimony at their trials.

<!--Display the nav box on the first page and for the remaining pages display it depending on the value of show nav box on all pages in cms/metadata-->A spokesman for Cornyn declined to comment.

<!--Display the nav box on the first page and for the remaining pages display it depending on the value of show nav box on all pages in cms/metadata-->Lucy Nashed, a spokeswoman for Perry, said that because the governor will be out of state, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst will preside over the execution. She declined to comment further about Buck's case.

<!--Display the nav box on the first page and for the remaining pages display it depending on the value of show nav box on all pages in cms/metadata-->That means any final order to delay it would technically come from Dewhurst - though Dewhurst spokesman Mike Walz said the lieutenant governor does not comment on pending executions. However, Perry's office frequently points out that Perry remains the governor and in contact with Austin while traveling.

<!--Display the nav box on the first page and for the remaining pages display it depending on the value of show nav box on all pages in cms/metadata-->Prosecutors contend Buck's case was different from the others and that Quijano's racial reference was a small part of a larger testimony about the prison population.

<!--Display the nav box on the first page and for the remaining pages display it depending on the value of show nav box on all pages in cms/metadata-->Huffman, now a state senator and one of Perry's closest allies in the Legislature, defended asking Quijano the racially charged question, saying, "I have absolutely no concern whatsoever." She noted that Quijano was a defense witness, her question came in reference to a report he prepared for the defense and the issue was raised just once.

<!--Display the nav box on the first page and for the remaining pages display it depending on the value of show nav box on all pages in cms/metadata-->However, Huffman's assistant prosecutor in the case, Linda Geffin, has joined the call for a new sentencing hearing, saying Wednesday that "race should never be put in front of a jury in any case, particularly a death penalty case."

<!--Display the nav box on the first page and for the remaining pages display it depending on the value of show nav box on all pages in cms/metadata-->The execution would be the second this week and the 11th this year in Texas. Two more Texas prisoners are set to die next week.

 

[QueEx]

Is this where we mention, "The Rock" ? ? ?

 

[thoughtone]

source: Think Progress


Federal Appeals Court Orders Texas To Issue Confederate Flag License Plates

CREDIT: AP Photo/Texas Department of Motor Vehicles

The state of Texas’s decision not to issue a license plate that incorporates the Confederate battle flag violates the First Amendment, according to a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The majority opinion by Judge Edward Prado concludes that Texas engaged in impermissible viewpoint discrimination by implicitly disfavoring the view that “the Confederate flag is a symbol of sacrifice, independence, and Southern heritage” and crediting the viewpoint that “the Confederate flag is an inflammatory symbol of hate and oppression.”

As a matter of law this is a genuinely difficult case, although for reasons unrelated to whether Texas engaged in viewpoint discrimination by refusing to print license plates that display a symbol used by racist, slaveholding traitors. As a general rule, the government is not allowed to discriminate among viewpoints when it regulates the speech of others, but it has wide discretion when it offers its own viewpoint — thus, the government can fund a campaign urging children not to do drugs without having to give equal time to supporters of illegal drug use. The most important, and the most challenging, legal question presented by this case is whether state-issued license plates are a form of private speech or a form of government speech.

Judge Prado’s opinion for the majority concludes that license plates reflect the views of the person who displays them on their car, and thus Texas could not exclude the viewpoints of people who support the Confederacy when it decides which plates to offer. There is, indeed, strong precedent indicating that drivers have a First Amendment interest in the message displayed on their license plate. In the 1977 Supreme Court case Wooley v. Maynard, the justices held that a New Hampshire resident could not be required to display the state’s motto “Live Free or Die,” which was printed on his state-issued license plate, under the First Amendment.

In dissent, Judge Jerry Smith argues that a more recent case, the Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in Pleasant Grove City v. Summum, changes this calculation. Among other things, Smith rejects the idea that the messages displayed by a license plate must be either government speech or private speech — they may be both. In Summum, Smith explains, the “overwhelming majority” of the government-displayed monuments at issue in that case “were designed, built, and donated by private actors; and at least some portion (if not all) of the privately donated monuments bore the inscription, name, and/or written message of the donors.” And yet, the fact that these monuments conveyed private donors’ viewpoints did not prevent the Supreme Court from concluding that the government could be selective in determining which monuments it wanted to display in a public space. Similarly, Smith argues, Texas should be allowed to be selective in determining which messages it displays on its license plates, even if these messages also reflect the viewpoints of private individuals.

As federal appeals courts are divided on the question of if and when states are required to issue license plates conveying messages the state would prefer not to convey, it is fairly likely that this case will be heard by the Supreme Court if Texas appeals.

 

[thoughtone]