| 4-01 |
Buck v. Thaler
( full text )
|
01565 U.S. ___ (2011) |
Sotomayor dissented from the Court's denial of certiorari in a case involving the murder conviction and death sentence of an African-American in Texas state court. During the sentencing phase, a psychologist had improperly testified that blacks were more likely to be violent. Though the psychologist was a defense witness called to testify that the defendant would not pose a continuing threat to society behind bars, on cross-examination the prosecution further elicited statements from the psychologist regarding race as a predictor of future violence. In Sotomayor's view, "the salient fact was that the prosecution invited the jury to consider race as a factor in sentencing." Sotomayor also noted that the State had misrepresented to the lower courts the nature of other Texas death sentences that had involved the same psychologist but had already been set for resentencing, and she believed the District Court should have the opportunity to evaluate this case with a clear record.
Further reading
|