Review: Psychologist discussed race in 9 capital murder cases

HOUSTON - At least nine men were sent to death row in Texas after a psychologist recommended the death penalty partly because of the defendant's race, a review has found.

The death sentence that prompted the review was thrown out Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Psychologist Walter Quijano had testified that Argentine laborer Victor Hugo Saldano, a convicted murderer, was a future danger to society because of his Hispanic heritage.

Texas Attorney General John Cornyn began investigating in April after his office found problems with the Saldano case.

Of the eight other cases, only six may result in further legal action. In one, the defendant was not a member of a racial group identified by the psychologist. In another, the prosecution did not introduce race as a factor.

''It is improper, especially in assessing the death penalty, the ultimate penalty, to consider someone's race,'' Cornyn said. ''What we ought to be focusing on is the behavior.''

In Saldano's trial, Quijano listed 24 factors that he said made Saldano a future threat to society. Among them was ethnicity. Quijano testified that blacks and Hispanics are over-represented in prison, and the fact that Saldano is Hispanic ''was a factor weighing in favor of future dangerousness.''

To impose a death sentence in Texas, a jury must decide if a convicted murderer is a future threat.

The attorney general's office reviewed the case files of all executions in Texas since 1982 and has not found any cases in which a defendant was executed on the basis of Quijano's testimony about race or ethnicity.

Quijano, the former chief psychologist for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, defended his testimony earlier this week, saying that as a professional scientist, he is duty-bound to report what he knows to be true.

''I don't make these things up. They ask me questions on the stand and ask me what the factors (of future dangerousness) are,'' Quijano said. He has testified as an expert witness in more than 100 capital cases, most often as a witness for the defense.

Defense attorneys have said his comments about race and criminality can prejudice a jury.

Cornyn said the review did not find a problem with how the death penalty is administered in Texas.

''I think what it says is the system works,'' Cornyn said. ''The attorney general is one of the checks in the system.''

Cornyn's office sent letters to the local prosecutors and defense attorneys involved in the six cases that could have been affected. Three of the inmates are Hispanic, and three are black.

''Right now we're in the stages of reviewing these cases and seeing what further action is needed,'' said Heather Brown, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office. ''It's premature for us to speculate what might happen in these defendants' cases.''

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Texas Attorney General's office: http://www.oag.state.tx.us/