The nation’s top court just stood in the way of one of the Texas executions Rick Perry and his supporters are so proud of.
From Reuters:
The Supreme Court gave a reprieve on Thursday to a Texas death row inmate in a case tinged by racial controversy, granting a stay more than 90 minutes after the scheduled time of his execution.
The high court issued the stay of execution for Duane Buck, 48, who had been scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection at 6 p.m. local time in Huntsville, Texas, for a pair of shotgun murders in 1995 in Houston.
Lawyers for Buck, who is black, appealed to the Supreme Court and said he had been unfairly sentenced because a psychologist testified that black men were more likely than other races to be repeat offenders after their release from prison.
Buck’s lawyers had appealed to Perry for a 30-day stay. The court’s decision means “Perry will not have to act,” the wire service reports.
Perry had come under criticism for choosing to attend an Iowa fundraiser rather than return to Texas on the night of the execution, turning over control of the matter to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.
