Post by MXB on Mar 8, 2007 17:12:17 GMT -5
Judge presented plan on death penalty representation
PHOENIX -- Public defenders and Maricopa County Andrew Thomas on Wednesday presented a judge with a court-ordered plan to provide experienced defense lawyers to death penalty defendants now lacking required representation.
At issue is a 136-case backlog of death penalty cases pending in Maricopa County Superior Court, including some in which defendants did not have a lead attorney for their two-attorney defense teams.
Along with listing 12 assignments of lead attorneys for defendants who didn't have them, the defenders and Thomas also submitted an "action plan" intended to ensure the long-term availability of qualified attorneys to handle death-penalty cases.
Elements of the plan submitted to Superior Court Judge James Keppel include some steps already being taken and others recommended for implementation.
Steps being taken already, according to the plan, include sharing of caseload forecasts and determining how many additional lawyers and death-penalty exerts will be needed over the next 12 to 18 months.
Recommended steps include holding conferences early in cases to settle procedural matters that affect representation, considering whether to assigning death penalty cases only to judges stationed in courthouses in downtown Phoenix because that's where the death-penalty lawyers are, creating a process to provide extra pay for attorneys specializing in death penalty cases and centralizing procurement of experts and other specialists.
Defense attorneys have asked for waivers of speedy trial rules on grounds that there aren't enough qualified defense and death-sentence mitigation specialists available to represent all the defendants.
The defense attorneys had said the backlog is a result of increased death-sentence requests by Thomas. He opposed blanket delays, saying that defense attorneys' stalling tactics and their unwillingness to work more cases create the backlog.
Keppel had ordered the sides to appear in court Wednesday either with a settlement agreement that included a long-term plan or to start a hearing for him to gather evidence on how to resolve the representation issues.
Keppel during a hearing complimented lawyers and officials who worked on the plan, a court spokeswoman said.
The judge later issued a brief order accepting the appointment of a public defender for one of the defendants who lacked a lead defense attorney.
Because a defense motion to stay proceedings was now moot, "the court will take no further action," his order added.
Keppel did not immediately return a call for comment late Wednesday
PHOENIX -- Public defenders and Maricopa County Andrew Thomas on Wednesday presented a judge with a court-ordered plan to provide experienced defense lawyers to death penalty defendants now lacking required representation.
At issue is a 136-case backlog of death penalty cases pending in Maricopa County Superior Court, including some in which defendants did not have a lead attorney for their two-attorney defense teams.
Along with listing 12 assignments of lead attorneys for defendants who didn't have them, the defenders and Thomas also submitted an "action plan" intended to ensure the long-term availability of qualified attorneys to handle death-penalty cases.
Elements of the plan submitted to Superior Court Judge James Keppel include some steps already being taken and others recommended for implementation.
Steps being taken already, according to the plan, include sharing of caseload forecasts and determining how many additional lawyers and death-penalty exerts will be needed over the next 12 to 18 months.
Recommended steps include holding conferences early in cases to settle procedural matters that affect representation, considering whether to assigning death penalty cases only to judges stationed in courthouses in downtown Phoenix because that's where the death-penalty lawyers are, creating a process to provide extra pay for attorneys specializing in death penalty cases and centralizing procurement of experts and other specialists.
Defense attorneys have asked for waivers of speedy trial rules on grounds that there aren't enough qualified defense and death-sentence mitigation specialists available to represent all the defendants.
The defense attorneys had said the backlog is a result of increased death-sentence requests by Thomas. He opposed blanket delays, saying that defense attorneys' stalling tactics and their unwillingness to work more cases create the backlog.
Keppel had ordered the sides to appear in court Wednesday either with a settlement agreement that included a long-term plan or to start a hearing for him to gather evidence on how to resolve the representation issues.
Keppel during a hearing complimented lawyers and officials who worked on the plan, a court spokeswoman said.
The judge later issued a brief order accepting the appointment of a public defender for one of the defendants who lacked a lead defense attorney.
Because a defense motion to stay proceedings was now moot, "the court will take no further action," his order added.
Keppel did not immediately return a call for comment late Wednesday