US Supreme Court stays Texas execution

The US Supreme Court halted at the last minute the execution in Texas of a convicted double murderer whose case has been marred by racial concerns. Officials with the Texas Department of Corrections and the defense team for Duane Buck told AFP that the execution had been temporarily halted on the evening he was scheduled to be put to death. Buck was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of his ex-girlfriend and her friend. His execution had been set to take place late Thursday after 6:00 pm (2300 GMT) in Huntsville, Texas. The US Supreme Court or Texas Governor Rick Perry, favored to win the Republican nomination for the 2012 presidential race, had until midnight (0500 GMT) to authorize a stay. Both Buck's attorney and one of the prosecutors who put him behind bars now say that racial considerations plagued the trial of Buck, who is black. "We are relieved that the US Supreme Court recognized the obvious injustice of allowing a defendant's race to factor into sentencing decisions and granted a stay of execution to Duane Buck," said his attorney Kate Black. "No one should be put to death based on the color of his or her skin." Black, who noted the court did not specify the length of the stay, had asked the court earlier for the move, and had also asked Perry on Wednesday to consider a 30-day reprieve. "A 30-day reprieve is necessary to allow state officials time to work together and arrive at a solution ensuring that Mr Buck's sentence is determined through a process untainted by considerations of his race," she said. Prosecutor Linda Geffin asked Perry for a temporary stay of execution on Monday, saying that "no individual should be executed without being afforded a fair trial, untainted by considerations of race." A staunch advocate of the death penalty, the Texas governor has seen 235 convicted felons executed during his 11 years in office, the most under any governor in modern times. During a debate in Los Angeles last week, the ultraconservative candidate said to applause that in Texas "if you come into our state and you kill one of our children, you kill a police officer, you're involved with another crime and you kill one of our citizens, you will face the ultimate justice in the state of Texas, and that is, you will be executed." The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, whose members were all appointed by Perry, denied Buck's request for clemency on Wednesday, a move followed by the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals. Former Texas attorney general John Cornyn, who is now a US senator from the state, said there had been an "improper injection of race in the sentencing hearing in Mr Buck's case." At that time, a psychologist called to testify said blacks were more likely to be repeat offenders.