Post by MXB on Jun 4, 2007 8:28:48 GMT -5
The costs of the death penalty are a key factor affecting the quality of representation in capital cases in at least three states. Lack of representation in parts of the death penalty process has been cited recently in courts in Georgia, Alabama, and Utah.
Budget problems at the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council have prevented payments to lawyers since March 1, according to an official at the Council. Defense attorneys say the states' inability to meet the costs associated with capital trials is a violation of capital defendants' constitutional rights to due process. "Basically, we have zero funding. It forces us to be ineffective," said Georgia capital defense attorney Richard Hagler.
In Alabama, a lawsuit requesting representation filed by six death row inmates has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The inmates say that Alabama, the only state in the nation that does not provide condemned inmates with attorneys for post-conviction appeals, has denied them the opportunity to effectively challenge their death sentences. Three former Alabama Supreme Court justices, a former appellate judge, and 3 former presidents of the state bar have filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the inmates' claim. The brief states that more than a dozen condemned Alabama inmates have no attorney to handle their appeal. According to a report in the Tuscaloosa News, even if the state wanted to correct the problem, it could not afford to do so.
In Utah, court officials are still searching for an attorney willing to represent death row inmate Ralph Leroy Menzies in his appeal. Mark Field, a staff attorney for the Utah Administrative Office of the Courts, said more than a dozen lawyers have said no to taking over the Menzies case, mostly for financial reasons.
(Ledger-Enquirer (Ga.), Tuscaloosa News (Al.), and Salt Lake Tribune (Ut.), May 15, 2007).
Budget problems at the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council have prevented payments to lawyers since March 1, according to an official at the Council. Defense attorneys say the states' inability to meet the costs associated with capital trials is a violation of capital defendants' constitutional rights to due process. "Basically, we have zero funding. It forces us to be ineffective," said Georgia capital defense attorney Richard Hagler.
In Alabama, a lawsuit requesting representation filed by six death row inmates has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The inmates say that Alabama, the only state in the nation that does not provide condemned inmates with attorneys for post-conviction appeals, has denied them the opportunity to effectively challenge their death sentences. Three former Alabama Supreme Court justices, a former appellate judge, and 3 former presidents of the state bar have filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the inmates' claim. The brief states that more than a dozen condemned Alabama inmates have no attorney to handle their appeal. According to a report in the Tuscaloosa News, even if the state wanted to correct the problem, it could not afford to do so.
In Utah, court officials are still searching for an attorney willing to represent death row inmate Ralph Leroy Menzies in his appeal. Mark Field, a staff attorney for the Utah Administrative Office of the Courts, said more than a dozen lawyers have said no to taking over the Menzies case, mostly for financial reasons.
(Ledger-Enquirer (Ga.), Tuscaloosa News (Al.), and Salt Lake Tribune (Ut.), May 15, 2007).