Death Watch: Shuffling the Deck

Terry Edwards, until recently slated for an Oct. 19 killing, saw his execution date delayed late last month after his counsel reached an agreement with Dallas County prosecutors. Edwards is now scheduled for the gurney on Jan. 26, 2017. The 43-year-old received his sentence in 2003 for the 2002 capital murder of Tommy Walker and Mickell Goodwin, two employees at a Dallas-area Subway where Edwards used to work. (Edwards and his co-defendant Kirk Edwards, who is currently midway through a 25-year sentence after being found guilty of burglary and theft, were also found guilty of robbing the store.)

Edwards had his date pushed back because his previously appointed counsel had been largely absent during the time leading up to execution. He was originally scheduled to die on May 11, but reached an agreement with the Dallas County D.A.'s office to consider modification. In June, he received a new set of attorneys – the Phillips Black Project – on account of that prolonged absence of representation. Last month, PBP attorney Joseph Perkovich signed an agreed motion with a Dallas Assistant D.A. to push Edwards' death date back to January, to allow counsel a better opportunity to review the case. In previous habeas filings, Edwards' claims have hinged mostly on the representative body of his trial jury. He's argued that he was not given a fair and impartial trial.

The inmate previously scheduled to die after Edwards, Ramiro Gonzales, also sees his death date on the move. Recently scheduled for Nov. 2, Gonzales' execution date was withdrawn late last month. His attorney Michael Gross did not respond to Chronicle calls and emails seeking clarification on why that date has been withdrawn. The case is held in Medina County, whose district clerk only indicates the date was swiped on Sept. 19. Gonzales, 33, has been on death row since 2006 for the 2001 kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder of 18-year-old Bridget Townsend. (He was indicted while imprisoned for sexually assaulting another woman.) Both Gonzales and Edwards were named in the civil suit seeking that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice be required to test their doses of compounded pentobarbital, the cocktail used for lethal injections, which got dismissed by the 5th Circuit Sept. 12. The high appeals court denied requests to stay both their executions just last month. (See "Death Watch: Appeals, Waived Appeals, and Conflicting Findings," Sept. 23.)

Buck Goes to Washington

The United States Supreme Court last week heard oral arguments in the case of 53-year-old Houstonian Duane Buck, on death row for the 1995 murder of his ex-girlfriend Debra Gardner and her friend Ken­neth Butler. Whether Buck murdered Gard­ner and Butler is not in question. Whether he should be on death row, however, is what's brought his case to the highest U.S. court. During Buck's trial, psychologist Walter Quijano confirmed a prosecutor's presumption that "the race factor" – Buck is black – "increases the future dangerousness for various complicated reasons" – in essence suggesting that Buck is more likely to be a future threat because he's black.

The case has already gone to the Supreme Court once; in 2011, efforts for any relief from the justices proved unsuccessful. (Buck's case took a hit because Quijano had been called to testify by the defense.) His second trip may prove more fruitful, however. Accord­ing to multiple outlets that attended the hearing, justices were perplexed as to how to treat the case: At one point, Justice Samuel Alito called Quijano's testimony both "inexcusable" and "bizarre." A ruling on whether to grant Buck relief should come later this fall.