In an editorial article for the
Star-Telegram, writer Bob Ray Sanders asserts his reasons as to why a man
currently on death row should receive a new sentencing trial in his article
titled “'Race' in case stains Texas justice system.” Mr. Sanders is targeting the citizens of
Texas to prove how unfair the Texas criminal justice system is, something he
blatantly dislikes. Sanders sets the tone for his editorial by opening with the
statement, “Texas has so many stains on its criminal justice system that there
is no societal detergent that could ever remove them all.”
Sanders focuses on the case of
Duane Buck, a black man, who murdered two people and was sentenced to death
based upon racially biased testimony during his trial by psychologist Walter
Quijano. Quijano was also found to have made racially biased testimonies at
five other trials, all defendants of which were also sentenced to death, but
all five of which have all received new sentencing trials because of the
testimony in their case. Sanders feels that Buck deserves a new sentencing
trial because he was not given a fair one initially, and based on the
information that Sanders gives the reader, I agree with him. Race should not
have been a factor when Buck was being sentenced, but it was, and that alone
should be grounds for a new trial.
Sanders then goes on to list issues pertaining to Buck that were not
allowed in his initial sentencing trial, including the fact that his father was
an abusive alcoholic and that Mr. Buck had an undiagnosed developmental
disorder, among other things. Why was this information not allowed into the
trial? Sanders does not clarify this for the reader. There is also a written
statement that is currently being signed by political leaders and other professionals
calling for a new sentencing trial, and hopefully the Court of Criminal Appeals
gives him this chance after the injustice he was put through before.
Mr. Sanders
clearly lays out his evidence and logic for the reader, making it very easy to
understand his point of view, making it hard not to agree with him. Mr. Buck is
not fighting the charges against him, he has owned up to those, he just wants
to be given the fair sentencing trial that he deserves, and Sanders proves why
this is so. This piece is also thought provoking because Texas’ past (and
present, whether the Supreme Court wants to admit it or not) is covered in
racial and discriminatory undertones. It made me question what other “horrible
stains on justice,” as Sanders calls them, are being committed by the Texas
justice system and what, if anything, is being done to stop them.
No comments:
Post a Comment