The state of Texas agrees that unconstitutional testimony was introduced at the trial, but has argued that the testimony and the caliber of Buck’s legal counsel don’t constitute the kind of “extraordinary circumstances” under which Buck would be allowed to proceed.
That’s an unacceptable answer. A man was sentenced to death at least in part because of his race — a violation of his constitutional rights — and is now being denied the ability to challenge that miscarriage of justice because of bad counsel and a procedural technicality. If those don’t constitute “extraordinary circumstances,” then what does?
Read the full editorial here.
