AUSTIN, Texas – Los abogados de Duane Buck, un hombre tejano cuya ejecución está programada para el 15 de septiembre, están solicitando a un juez federal que ordene un nuevo juicio de sentencia. Aseguran que el juicio de Buck en 1997 fue inconstitucional. El suyo fue uno de los siete casos penales que el Attorney General (Procurador General) de entonces, General John Cornyn, quiso que se revisaran por lo que llamaba un "error grave": un testigo experto dijo al jurado que ciertas razas tienden más a ser peligrosas en el futuro. Mientras los otros seis eventualmente comparecieron en nuevos juicios, Buck, quien es afro-americano, "se escurrió por las grietas de los procedimientos", en opinión de Andrea Keilen, directora ejecutiva del Texas Defender Service (Servicio de Defensoría de Texas).

"El meollo del asunto es que su juicio estuvo contaminado por esta evidencia racial. Así que pedimos una oportunidad justa, frente a un jurado que no esté prejuiciado por cosas como esa, para abogar por su vida."

Dice que el caso Buck deja ver cómo la pena de muerte a veces es aplicada injustamente, incluso luego de que se ha establecido la cupla o la inocencia. Buck mató a tiros a Debra Gardner y a Kenneth Butler en 1995, e hirió a Phyllis Taylor, quien ahora dice que ya lo perdonó y quiere que se le salve la vida. Keilen dice que al permitir que el color de una persona haya sido un factor decisivo al dictarle sentencia, se violó tanto la cláusula del proceso debido como la de igual protección de la Constitución.

"Es algo que no debiera ser controversial. Algo que debiera ser obvio para todos, ya sabes, tanto a nivel oficial como al público en general, es que esto no puede ser tolerado cuando la vida de alguien está en riesgo."

Los abogados de Buck también pidieron al actual Procurador General Greg Abbott, a la Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (Junta de Indultos y Libertad bajo Palabra de Texas), y al Gobernador Rick Perry que intervengan. Hasta ahora, dice Keilen, todos los que pudieran posponer la ejecución del 15 de septiembre han guardado silencio.

"Ya sea que alguien intervenga o no, o incluso que tome una decisión en el último minuto, simplemente no sabemos."

Perry ha permitido 235 ejecuciones durante los diez años de su gobierno. Sólo concedió clemencia en una ocasión, sin contar los casos capitales en los que intervino la Suprema Corte.

La petición de clemencia puede ser consultada en scribd.com.


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A package to improve public safety is moving ahead in the California state Legislature - with a floor vote in the State Assembly on the first bill expected this week.

Assembly Bill 2215 puts into statute that police officers have the discretion to send people arrested for low-level offenses directly to supportive services.

Anthony DiMartino - government affairs director with the nonprofit Californians for Safety and Justice - said sometimes public safety is best served when people avoid arrest and instead get therapy, addiction support or help getting a job.

"We're also hoping to raise awareness that this is something officers can do, and then also encourage partnerships more with officers to look at what's in their community," said DiMartino, "as alternatives to jail booking."

A second bill would increase transparency and accountability on money sent to the counties as part of the Public Safety Realignment.

A third bill would require police officers, prosecuting attorneys and investigators to identify themselves any time they're interviewing a family member of someone killed or severely injured by police.

DiMartino said they also support AB 2499, which would ensure that survivors of violent crime and their family members can take unpaid time off work to address safety concerns and heal.

"We're hoping to broaden the scope a bit," said DiMartino, "and make it more clear that family members of victims are able to also tap into unpaid leave to support their family member that has been a victim."

A fifth bill would make it easier for justice-involved people and crime victims to speak freely during restorative justice programs - by making the communications inadmissible in other legal proceedings.

Missouri went through with its first execution of the year, as Brian Dorsey was put to death last night, just after 6 p.m. CT.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to stop Dorsey's execution. He was convicted of murdering his cousin Sarah Bonnie and her husband Ben nearly 20 years ago.

The advocacy group Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty launched several recent campaigns on Dorsey's behalf to spare his life.

Jenni Gerhauser, a cousin to both Dorsey and Sarah Bonnie, expressed belief in his redemption.

"Brian is more than the worst moment of his life," Gerhauser stressed. "There is so much more to him."

Gerhauser fondly remembered him as fun and charming from their visits during holidays. Dorsey's current lawyers said he was in a drug-induced psychosis when he killed the Bonnies in 2006 and his attorneys at the time had been offered money, preventing them from fighting the death penalty with his guilty plea deal.

Gov. Mike Parson confirmed Monday the state would move forward with Dorsey's death sentence, rejecting a separate request for clemency. More than 70 current and former corrections officers had urged the governor to commute Dorsey's sentence, arguing he had been rehabilitated.

Claudia Boyce, also a cousin in the family, said it should not be a decision for the state to make.

"You know, that's supposed to be God's decision, not ours," Boyce contended.

Dorsey received a lethal injection Tuesday evening. Lethal injection became an option for people on Missouri's death row in 1987, alongside lethal gas.


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Amid overcrowding and unsafe conditions in West Virginia jails, state lawmakers introduced bills that would allow judges to take a 'second look' at an individual's original sentence.

If a court determines they no longer pose a threat to the community, the person could be released, placed on supervision, or receive a shortened sentence.

Sara Whitaker - criminal legal policy analyst with the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy - said West Virginia is one of the few states that has seen its prison population balloon over the past decade, despite declining crime.

She noted that as of last month, more than 500 people in the state were in jail awaiting transfer to a prison.

"As a result, eight out of 10 of the regional jails in the state were beyond capacity," said Whitaker, "with hundreds of people assigned to sleeping on the floor."

The bills failed to advance this session, but Whitaker said advocates are hopeful lawmakers will consider them next year.

The state's jails remain among the deadliest in the country, with at least 91 people losing their lives while incarcerated in the past few years.

According to the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, jail bills cost counties $45 million in 2022.

Nationwide, long sentences have led to growth in the number of older people behind bars.

Whitaker pointed out that 'Second Look' legislation could help the state avoid turning its prisons into nursing homes, and said the number of elderly people in prison has tripled in the past two decades.

"In 2019, West Virginia had to open a dementia unit in one of its prisons," said Whitaker. "There are hospice units across multiple prisons. And experts predict that this is just only going to get worse."

Whitaker added that 'Second Look' policies also offer a way to correct past racial injustice in the criminal legal system.

Black people incarcerated in West Virginia are four times more likely than white people to be serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole, and five times as likely to be serving a life-without-parole sentence.




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