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.

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. Chief Justice Roberts' ruling rejected the District Court's argument that the discussion of race at trial was de minimis and therefore not prejudicial. 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."