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July 2002
Georgia’s
Death penalty very costly
F.C.M. In the State of Georgia,
indigent defense can come almost gold plated if the death penalty is involved. Fulton County Superior Court Judge
Stephanie Manis has approved, so far, $ 164,000 in fees and expenses just for
“one lawyer in the Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin case.
Two other lawyers have yet to submit their bills, but it is expected to
push the total costs far beyond $ 200 thousands dollars in legal fees alone.
Judge Manis stated that the death
penalty has a great popular appeal, but she doesn’t think that taxpayers look
at the bottom line. One lawyer for Mr. Al-Amin stated
that the allotted $ 100 per hour did not come nearly
close to his hourly fee for a paying client, but did say that such an
expenditure for such a punishment, was a waste of taxpayers money. The Fulton County Public Defenders
Office handles about $ 5,500 cases a year on a $ 8,4 million dollars budget,
which rounds out to about $ 1500 per case.
These are non-death penalty cases, and basically the flip side of
Georgia’s defense system. In some
of the counties, they pay less than $ 50 per case for poor defendants ,while is
a few counties that pursue capital
cases, they pay as lower as $ 60 per hour, which is basically volunteer work.
The larger cities in Georgia’s State can afford the expensiveness of
the death penalty whereas, smaller counties can’t and the defendant suffers
injustice on the basis of geographical reasons. The expenses for Mr. Al-Amin’s
trial are : the district attorney spent $ 34,000 for equipment, graphic design
for court exhibits and expert witnesses; $ 43,000 for overtime for
investigators; four top prosecutors, whose salaries for two months of trial and
jury selection cost’s $ 76,000. Other
costs were $ 87,000 to sequester the jury (12 members and 6 alternates) for a
month. The county paid $ 63,000 for hotel rooms, dinners
and drinks for the jurors, lunches and beverages cost $ 6,000; transportation
cost $ 2,500; entertainment which consisted of a movie, a bowling trip and Fox
Theatre outing cost $ 765; copies at a copier service for the jury
questionnaires cost $ 14,000. None
of this fees include costs of deputies who guarded the jury and court. All of these fees should be
afforded to each and every defendant facing the possibility of a death sentence.
It is the human thing and the right thing to do.
Unfortunately not everyone agrees to spend the money for capital
punishment defense. He or she whose life is on the line should always get the
best possible services. Then
hopefully the scales of Justice will balance. New
Mexico’s Supreme Court overturns death sentence
F.C.M. The New
Mexico Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of Texan Michael Treadway and
ordered him to spend life in prison. Mr
Treadway, one of three men on New Mexico’s death row alleged that prosecutors
failed to present sufficient evidence that Treadway killed the victim to keep
him from reporting the crime. In New
Mexico a crime involving the murder of a witness can be elevated to a capital
crime under aggravating circumstances. In
an unanimous ruling, the five member court reversed the death sentence and
stated …”defendants principle argument is that there’s insufficient
evidence to prove the aggravating circumstances of murder of a witness beyond a
reasonable doubt,»… the Court agrees“ Mr
Treadway’s departure leaves Timothy Allen and Robert Fry on New Mexico’s
death row.
Man
executed despite pleas from victim’s mother
F.C.M. Despite the
efforts of his attorney and the victim’s mother, who pleaded with the Board of
Pardons and Parole to commute this man, Johnny Martinez was executed. The case
brought attention because the mother of the victim met with Mr Martinez through
a victim’s rights mediation program, which puts the accused and a member of
the victim’s family together in a face to face meeting, during their meeting
Mrs Lana Norris, victim’s mother, stated that she forgave Mr Martinez and thus
decided to write an in depth letter to the Board of Pardons and Parole
requesting that they commute Mr Martinez to life in prison.
That act in itself is rare in Texas because 98 % percent of the time, the
prosecutor has poisoned the minds of victim’s families with vengeance. In an
unusually close vote, the Board of Pardons and Parole voted 9 – 8 to reject
commutation of Mr. Martinez’s death sentence. His lawyer
argued that Mr. Martinez did not have full access to the Courts, which he is
entitled to under the law. His
argumentative reasoning, with evidence, was that Mr. Martinez’s first State
Habeas attorney, whom the court appointed, did very little on his behalf. Before the
lethal chemicals began their journey, Mr. Martinez spoke with eloquence and
conviction….quote, unquote…”I know I’m fixing to die, but not for my
mistakes. My trial lawyers, they
are the ones who are killing me”. Where are
we, a civilized society headed for when one Mother who has lost a son, pleads
for the life of her son’s killer, so another Mother won’t have to grieve the
loss of a son ? How can such strong
beliefs of forgiveness fall upon deaf ears !
Texas always speaks about the victims’ rights, well in this case Texas
totally ignored the victims rights and request. Another
Mother has laid her son to rest. Far
too many Mothers are crying and far too many brothers are dying.
Marvin Gaye told a truth that has exceeded his life… in his song
“What’s going on”. Death
row defence fund found with full coffers
F.C.M. More than $
5 million dollars in state money that was supposed to pay for lawyers for
indigent death row inmates has gone literally unspent over the past 5 years…..
and much of it has been funnelled back into the general state budget.
Money allotted to pay for adequate competent lawyers was skimmed
corruptly by the Court of Criminal Appeals. Since
September7, 2001, Texas has only spent $ 47 thousand dollars of the $ 2 million
available this fiscal year for the legally mandated appeals of Texas death row
inmates awaiting execution. Advocates
of the system point to the fact that although the money is there and readily
available, it is proof that the State is setting aside more than enough money
for death row appeals. That my
friends sounds good but lawyers make monetary requests for expert testimony or
forensic science testimony and they are often limited to sums of $1000 thousand
dollars to$ 2 thousand five hundred dollars.
Only $ 500 - $ 1000 is allotted for private investigations.
The Court has an 85 % denial rate on funds and that percentage is all of
the $ 5 million dollars. In 1995 the
law gave the Courts $ 7 million dollars for indigent inmate defence.
That sum was to be divided equally for the purpose of giving a person
sentenced to death some level playing field.
They ultimately paid out $ 2 million dollars in 6 years which is why
State Habeas lawyers who were appointed and “legally forced” to take death
row cases on habeas, were only given$ 7500.
That beyond outrage is an insult. Lawyers who
were appointed for this amount did very little and now due to their
ineffectiveness a lot of men are dying. It
is the inmates who are caught up in the middle.
The appeals courts hold onto the money and the lawyers do the bare
minimum. Most of those who do the
bare minimum are often under qualified or totally incompetent.
By the
“Courts” refusal to pay, and the attorneys do very little, a lot of inmates
loose claims and legal challenges because the lawyers do not raise the claims. Thus,
the “Courts” create the ineffectiveness, which is a violation of the United
States Constitution’s Sixth Amendment. They
know it but refuse to acknowledge it because to do such would create a landslide
of cases returning back into the Trial Courts. Right is
right and they created this problem. Maliciously
they continue to dog us. If they
must seek death, let there be some strong systematic fairness.
The Court can correct a great wrong by allowing inmates to redo their
State Habeas’s and grant us a thorough review.
That’s asking for a lot, but at least it’s on the path to Justice….
And that’s all we ask for……. Justice. Peace
Farley Governor
suspends the death penalty in Maryland
F.C.M. After
granting convicted murderer Wesley Eugene Baker a stay of execution, Gov. Parris
N. Glendening went one step further and effectively issued a moratorium on the
death penalty in Maryland until a State funded study on capital punishment is
completed in September. His
reasoning : “The most difficult decision a governor must make is to determine
whether or not the State should impose the death penalty” He said.-“I
continue to believe that there are certain crimes that are so brutal and so vile
that they call for society to render the ultimate punishment, however reasonable
questions have been raised in Maryland about its application of the death
penalty”. Mr
Baker’s lawyers argued in a petition that they expect the University of
Maryland Study to show that the death penalty in Maryland is disproportionately
applied to minorities. Nine of the
13 inmates on Maryland death row are African-Americans, including Baker.
All but one were sentenced to death for killing a white victim. Lt.
Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who supports the death penalty in limited
cases and also is a gubernatorial candidate, asked Gov. Glendening to impose a
moratorium until he receives the completed study, which is a process some expect
to take one year. Gov.
Glendening stated that they must have absolute confidence in the integrity of
the process and that his heart goes out to the victims families but he must
honour the responsibility he has to be absolutely certain of both the guilt of
the accused and the fairness and impartiality of the process. Last month,
a commission appointed by Gov. Ryan of Illinois recommended 85 reforms to reduce
the possibility of wrongful convictions. Maryland
now joins Illinois as the second State that has capital punishment, which has
imposed a moratorium. Indiana’s
life without parole cheaper for the State.
F.C.M. Life
without parole gives Indiana prosecutors a less costly alternative to the death
penalty. According
to the State’s Criminal Law Study Commission, it costs 35 percent to 38
percent more to execute a criminal in Indiana, than it costs to sentence him/her
to life in prison without parole. Prosecutors
and defence lawyers both agree that the 1993 law has made it easier to resolve a
violent murder case without embarking on an expensive, lengthy and emotionally
draining trial. Life
without parole provides the same punishment and safety net for society as does
the death penalty, but it just happens to be more much cheaper. So why pay more for the death penalty ? When
defendants are tried for the death penalty taxpayers foot the bill and thus in
some States….not all States, but in some, the defendant has virtually
unlimited access to tax payer dollars for his defence which is mandated by the
United States Constitution. The
State of Indiana choose to spend less in an up front move than to chance a
costly trial which could risk being overturned on appeal and that would bring
them back to square one again. Execution
pace continues despite the debate
F.C.M. Despite the
much-heated debate of Texas death penalty, the pace of executions here in Texas
has not slowed down long enough to hear the arguments being brought forth. In this
nation 28 offenders have been put to death nation wide…12 of those, were from
Texas. As a matter of fact, Texas has all but three of the scheduled 18
executions in the US through mid-November. Due to
legal complications and concerns over how the death penalty is administered,
several other states that has an active death penalty, have stopped for the
present time to study and correct it’s flaws.
Not Texas. Even as
national and international attention focuses on Texas and its system, which
overflows with injustice and countless judicial flaws, the juries in Texas
continue to impose death sentences upon individuals.
Blind guidance by manipulative prosecutors is the reason and shall
continue to be the reason until Texas abandons its arrogance and corrects its
system. Critics claim that the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has repeatedly turned a blind eye to the serious
shortcomings in how capital cases are tried.
Similar charges are directed at the 5th Circuit of Appeals in
New Orleans, which also reviews death row appeals in Texas.
The system that we have is politicised, partisan, and prejudicial. Texans who
oppose the death penalty or seek a moratorium so that its application can be
thoroughly reviewed, assert that the system under which defendants in Texas are
convicted for capital crimes and sent to death row is profoundly flawed. As trials
continue to take place and juries continue to hand out death sentences.
Appeals continue to snake their way through a flawed system and create an
overload, which cause the rubber stamp denial to any and all reviews, we still
remain optimistic, as we had a few executions halted so the courts can consider
the merits of their appeal. Now
whether that’s a part of a cycle, a fluke or if it reflects a broader
hesitation about the death penalty in Texas, remains open to speculation. Florida
guards won’t face charges
F.C.M. After two
trials ended with acquittals, authorities in Jacksonville, Florida, said that
they are dropping second-degree murder charges against the five remaining prison
guards accused of fatally beating a death row inmate.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said it would forward its
information in the 1999 death of death row inmate Frank Valdes to the United
States Justice Department in order for
them to determine whether a Federal Civil Rights investigation is
warranted.
Executions
double worldwide
F.C.M. The number
of known executions around the world doubled last year, with China accounting
for 80 percent of that total during its crackdown on crime. Amnesty
International stated in its annual report on the death penalty, that at least
3,048 people were executed in 31 countries last year. That figure includes 2,468 executions in China.
Between April and July 2001, China executed at least 1,781 people during
its national “strike hard” campaign against crime. Many of
those condemned to death could have been tortured to extract confessions.
The condemned prisoners are often shackled and humiliated by being
paraded before the public. Four
countries – China, Iran, Saudia Arabia and the United States, were responsible
for 90 % percent of all
of the death sentences carried out worldwide.
The statistics from these said countries tell us that the death penalty
is really used against those who are most defenceless in our society.
Despite the huge amount of public pressure, clear legal rulings and
evidence to prove that the death penalty is not a deterrent, this barbaric act
continues. It will take Amnesty’s
powerful lobbyist to push for America to repeal the “Immunity Laws”.
Then prosecutors won’t be so quick to pursue a death penalty case when
they could be charged if they pursue a case against an innocent person. The same
law could be used in other countries as well. One
hundred men are counting
F.C.M. They were
once men who sat on various death rows all over America. They were 100 men who shared a common bond among themselves
unconsciously. That bond was, that
they were all innocent. They could
have been easily killed and make not mistake, it was argued by prosecutors with
a fierceness that they should have
been killed. Had it not been for
defence lawyers determined efforts backed by monetary resources, these men would
have been killed without a doubt. Prosecutors
rushed to strap them down, plug them
up on the electric chair, inject them with poisonous solutions and them merely
eject their lifeless bodies on the backdoor to the mortician or who ever would
accept the body. Fortunately
for these 100 men, this scenario did not play itself out and fate would prove
rushing prosecutors wrong and let these men feel freedom after living through a
nightmare. There is
one aspect of this method of frontier justice that these overzealous prosecutors
are failing to acknowledge or shall I say that they refuse to acknowledge in
this method of finality… and that is this fact.
When this barbaric act is done, it’s done ! It is final and once an
error in judgement comes to light, there’s no turning back.
It is the finality that’s problem and we as intelligent human beings
know that when you’re dead, you’re dead.
This act seems to satisfy some primal need for judgement and human
sacrifices in some of America’s small-minded individuals, but he who seeks
such an unambiguous ending to human life cannot compensate a wrong when the act
is done. Finality is finality. Some people
challenge the death penalty on religious aspects. Some challenge it on the fairness in its application and the
discriminatory way it’s applied. Some
point to the fact that it falls upon the poor, the minorities, the mentally ill
and retarded, while others challenge the overall credibility of the death
penalty and its so call determent. Common
sense logic says that all of the above aspects are legitimate attacks as to
“why” the death penalty should be removed from our society.
Those who support the death penalty say that we must kill the killer as
proof of our respect for the sanctity of life…. but what about the sanctity of one of those 100 men lives ?
What if the wheels of justice had not turned for them and they were
executed by mistake ? Proponents
have nothing to say on that matter. Out of 784
people put to death in this Country since capital punishment resumed, no one can
convince me that there has “not” been an innocent person executed.
With overzealous prosecutors, police and nonchalant judges, there’s
ample reason to support my belief… not to mention a very flawed and erroneous
system. Peace
Farley
ACLU
pushes for moratorium in Florida
F.C.M. Noting how
many death row inmates in the United Sates are being cleared by newly found
evidence, the American Civil Liberties Union launched a campaign in Miami to
persuade Gov. Jeb Bush to impose a moratorium on executions. As the 100th
person escaped the clutches of death in Arizona. Opponents of capital punishment are decrying our system to be
full of flaws and totally broken. They
cite the 100 individuals who have walked off of death row as living proof that
something is terribly wrong with our judicial system. Twenty two
of those 100 individuals came from Florida’s death row, and the State of
Florida has a higher number than any other state.
Texas has only 7 to contribute to the total number, but Texas kills far
more than Florida and any other state in America. Those numbers are very alarming. The 99th
man, Juan R. Melendez , now 50 years, spent 18 years on Florida’s death row
until his lawyer found a key transcript in an old box that revealed that another
man admitted to the crime. The
spokesperson for Gov. Jeb Bush stated “The Governor reviews these cases
backwards and forwards thoroughly… capital punishment for violent and deadly
crimes against innocent citizens is the law and supported by a large majority of
Floridians”. California
and its reversal rate
F.C.M. In a State
that touts itself as a national model in legal protections for the death penalty
defendants, seven death sentences are set aside for every one carried out. Death
sentences imposed in California end up getting overturned for a variety of
reasons including prosecutorial misconduct and judicial error.
Also the state Supreme Court, one of Nations most pro-death penalty high
courts, applies a different standard than federal courts which results in
reversals at a much higher rate than the federal level. On an
examination of 72 cases reversed by State and Federal Courts since 1987; 64 were
from initially mandated first appeals, which by law are the first appeals.
That year, only 4 death sentences were affirmed and no executions took
place. The State
of California spends much more money on capital cases that most other states.
Their main issue in the appeals, is whether a defendant deserves to be
put to death rather than guilt or innocence.
About two thirds of reversals overturn only the death sentence, not the
conviction. California’s
Supreme Court is in greater conflict with federal courts than other states.
The State reverses 10 percent fully, which is the second lowest.
Texas has the lead at a 3 % reversal rate and in Texas, no issues are
considered. At least California
does take an effort towards justice. Italian
city retains ties with Fort Worth
F.C.M. After 4
hours of discussion, Fort Worth’s Italian sister city decided to maintain its
cultural ties with the city even though it opposes Texas’ stance on capital
punishment. The Reggio
Emilia council’s vote culminates a yearlong rift that began last spring
shortly after the execution of David Lee Goff, a Black man, whom the mayor of
Reggio Emilia pleaded for his life to be spared.
Disrespectfully, Texas ignored his sincere pleas, thus causing the rift
last year. Fort Worth
City Council officials took a vote in July 2000 which was a council resolution
supported by the majority through vote, that called for an open-ended moratorium
on the death penalty in Texas. The
resolution, authored by Mayor
–pro-tem R. McLoud, was tabled indefinitely citing that the issue concerning
capital punishment is a State and Federal issue, not a city council issue.
They have since refused to take a stand about capital punishment. New
Rules
F.C.M. The
administration is changing rules and as of July 1, 2002, we will no longer be
able to ask you for your financial support.
We will no longer be able to sell you our artwork, but some of us already
have our artworks already in Europe so that will continue. The CFTJ will
continue promoting cards and T-shirts but no longer through me. Our stamps
have been drastically reduced from 50 per week to 30.
This is an effort to deter us from writing you.
They want to stop us from asking for books, magazines and newspapers, but
that’s a violation of my freedom of speech.
They want to stop everything and have us merely sitting in a cell with
nothing or no one. Maybe with the new death row warden, things will change for
the better. I doubt it but, it’s
always room for hope. There
are a lot of very strict rules being passed quietly and that’s only
retaliation because they must give us a work program in the latter part of this
year. If you have someone on Texas
death row who you do things for, you should prepare a schedule so you can put so
much money on their account without them having to ask.
Develop a system for money, books, or anything.
For every disadvantage, there is an advantage….all we have to do is
just think. The CFTJ will try to
assist you as much as possible with your questions.
Take care. - Peace.
Fast
Facts on Texas Death Penalty
F.C.M. Fact :
Between February 1924 and July 1964, a total of 506 men and women were placed on
death row in Texas; of these, 361
died in the electric chair… Black
229 Murder
259 White
108 Rape
97 Hispanics
23
Armed robbery
5
-----
----- Total
361 Total
361 Fact : The
State of Texas executes by electrocution on February 8, 1924, on the same day,
five black men allegedly accused of murder in the following order. 1.
Charles
Reynold – Black – Red River Cy 2.
Ewell
Morris – Black – Liberty County 3.
George
Washington – Black – Newton Cy 4.
Mack
Matthew – Black – Tyler County 5.
Melvin
Johnson – Black – Liberty County Fact : When
capital punishment was declared “cruel and unusual” punishment by the U.S.
Supreme Court on June 29, 1972; there were 45 men on death row in Texas and 7 in
county jails with a death sentence. All
of the sentences were commuted to life sentences by the Governor of Texas and
Texas death row was cleared by March 1973. Fact
: The Texas Legislature revised the Texas Penal Code and effective January 1,
1974, Texas courts began assessing the death penalty.
Under the new statute, the first man was placed on Texas death row on
February 15, 1974 – John Devrees (white male) born November 19, 1920.
Devrees committed suicide on July 1st, 1924 by hanging
himself. Fact
: the first victim’s family was allowed to witness the execution of offender
Leo Jenkins on February 9, 1996. This
was done through the adoption preamble effective September 26, 1995. Fact
: shortest time on Texas death row.. Joe. F. Gonzalez – 999177 – 8 months;
18 days. Executed 09.18.1996. Second
shortest time on Texas death row : Aaron Foust – 999268 – 11 months; 20
days. Executed 04.28.1999 Longest
time: Robert E. White - # 551 – 24 years – 6 months. Executed 03.30.1999. Second
longest time : Joseph Faulder - # 580 – (Canadian citizen) – 22 years, 7
months. Executed 06.17.1999 Average
time on death row : 9,75 years Fact :
State without death penalty statutes : Alaska, District of Columbia, Hawaii,
Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island,
Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Fact : the
last person to be executed in Texas by electrocution was Joseph Johnson, a Black
man, on July 30, 1964, from Harris County Texas. Executions
stayed due to Mental Retardation issue
F.C.M. Petitions
to the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that mentally retarded offenders should not be
put to death have delayed the executions of three Texas death row inmates so
far. The
definition of mental retardation is anyone who has an I.Q. of 70 and bellow,
serious impairments in the individual’s ability to cope with daily activities
and the manifestation of symptoms before the age of 18. In Texas
last year, Gov. Rick Perry vetoed the mental retardation bill and I thoroughly
agreed with him. I received nasty little hate letters from people who didn’t
know what they were talking about, but I refuse to move in my decision because
those said people are on the outside looking in.
I, on the other hand, live this every day 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
and a whole lot of years to back me up. Had
Gov. Perry signed the bill, those three men would not be “alive” today
because all the Supreme Court would have looked at was there are safety measures
in Texas to prevent the execution of someone mentally retarded. The Texas
bill was not “retro-active”, which means that it would have began last year
on September 1, 2001 and would have covered every one forward, not the death row
inmates who are retarded and already on death row.
There’s 7 retarded death row inmates who are very safe in regards to
being executed simply because of the veto and they now stand a very good chance
of being commuted to “life in Prison” with the possibility of parole. Everything
hinges on the case involving a Virginia death row inmate who is retarded with a
59 I.Q. At first, the court took a
case out of North Carolina, but the State of North Carolina retreated and
established protective measures to prevent the execution of the mentally
retarded. Due to the fact that the
last time this issue came before the Court, they relied on a national consensus
in making their decision. Now the
national consensus is very much against executions of the retarded (75 %
percent- whereas, 15 years ago, they had no problem with it. Supreme
Court denies Tennessee Inmate
F.C.M. The Supreme
Court drew a hard time on death row appeals on May 28th, by upholding
a sentence for a convicted double murderer who claimed that his mentally ill
lawyer did next to nothing to save him from a death sentence. The Courts
ruling, although very narrow, will likely make it much more harder for death row
inmates to claim they deserve a break during appeals because of poor legal help
they received during their trials. A
ruling in cones favour would have given death row inmates more room to argue the
point that their lawyers were inadequate. Inmates
will always continue to argue that specific point because it is the reality of
this situation. Lawyers do very
little and the courts know it all too well, but rather than do the right thing,
which will create a landslide effect, they turn a blind eye to what should be
the right thing to do. The general
issue of poor legal representation for death row defendants has troubled both
female Supreme Court Justices – Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader
Grinsburg. Justice O’Connor
stated that it may be time now to require a minimum standards for lawyers. Justice Grinsburg said that among all the inmates who have
asked the Court for last minute reprieves, she has never seen one who got really
good legal help at trial. This same
Court granted Calvin Burdine’s case against his lawyer who slept through his
trial. The Court has been
conflicting itself with ultra conservative views led by Chief Justice William A.
Rehnquist. Only
Justice John Paul Stevens, the Court’s most liberal member, agreed with the
defendant that there’s evidence both of the lawyer’s mental illness and
incompetence. Burdine
receives order for new Trial or set free
F.C.M. Texas death
row inmate Calvin Burdine whose lawyer Joe Frank Cannon slept for long portions
of his capital murder trial will either win freedom or be retried after the
United States Supreme Court denied the Texas State’s appeal of the Federal
Court decisions that stated Mr. Burdine must be retried or released within 180
days. Lawyers for
Texas authorities argued that the lawyers’ inattention did not necessarily
equal an unfair trial. They have
went as far as to say that Mr. Burdine could not prove that the time his lawyer
slept, was crucial and costly to his defence.
The Court stated that any part of a capital murder trial is crucial and
every minute is vitally important, as the defendants life is on the line.
The prosecutor has agreed to retry Mr. Burdine with the swiftness of a
blinking eye. His jury selection
will begin September 17, 2002. This was
one of two cases the Supreme Court took regarding incompetent lawyers.
The other case came from Tennessee and Gary Bradford cone lawyer was
mentally ill and gave “no” closing arguments in his defence.
The Supreme Court turned him down and gave Burdine relief.
The Supreme Court has not yet taken a case that asks the broader question
of what to do about under prepared or overworked death penalty lawyers.
That’s what really needs to be addressed and place guidelines on.
Away from the Court, Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Grinsbrug have
expressed strong reservations about the quality of legal help that some inmates
receive. Burdine
came within ‘”moments” of execution in 1987 before receiving a
court-ordered reprieve. Burdine
lost several rounds of appeals before a Federal Court agreed that Cannon’s
performance violated Burdine’s constitutional right to an effective lawyer. The lawyer,
Joe Frank Cannon has since died, but up until his death, he denied falling
asleep. |
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