Buck v. Davis

Buck v. Davis, 580 U.S. ___ (2017), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court reversed the death sentence of the defendant Duane Buck after the defendant's attorney introduced evidence that suggested the defendant would be more likely to commit violent acts in the future because he was black.[1]

Buck v. Davis
Argued October 5, 2016
Decided February 22, 2017
Full case nameDuane Edward Buck v. Lorie Davis, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division
Docket no.15-8049
Citations580 U.S. ___ (more)
137 S. Ct. 759; 197 L. Ed. 2d 1
Case history
PriorBuck v. Stephens, 623 F. App'x 668 (5th Cir. 2015); cert. granted, 136 S. Ct. 2409 (2016).
ProceduralOn writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Subsequent865 F.3d 215 (5th Cir. 2017)
Court membership
Chief Justice
John Roberts
Associate Justices
Anthony Kennedy · Clarence Thomas
Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Samuel Alito · Sonia Sotomayor
Elena Kagan
Case opinions
MajorityRoberts, joined by Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan
DissentThomas, joined by Alito
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. VI

Opinion of the Court

In a 6-2 opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Court held that the defendant was denied effective assistance of counsel under Strickland v. Washington.[2][3] Chief Justice Roberts' ruling rejected the District Court's argument that the discussion of race at trial was de minimis and therefore not prejudicial.[4] Rather, Chief Justice Roberts wrote: "when a jury hears expert testimony that expressly makes a defendant’s race directly pertinent on the question of life or death, the impact of that evidence cannot be measured simply by how much air time it received at trial or how many pages it occupies in the record. Some toxins can be deadly in small doses."[5]

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See also

References
  1. Buck v. Davis, No. 15-8049, 580 U.S. ___ (2017).
  2. The Supreme Court, 2016 Term — Leading Cases, 131 Harv. L. Rev. 263 (2017).
  3. Buck, slip op. at 15-20 (citing Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984)).
  4. Buck, slip op. at 19.
  5. Buck, slip op. at 19-20.
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