ABA Death Penalty Representation Project Honors Longtime Capital Defender Mark Olive and Volunteer Law Firm Venable LLP

On September 14^th, 2023, the American Bar Association’s Death Penalty Representation Project held its annu­al Volunteer Recognition & Awards Program, hon­or­ing Venable LLP for its pro bono rep­re­sen­ta­tion of death row pris­on­ers, and cap­i­tal defense attor­ney and Florida State University College of Law pro­fes­sor Mark E. Olive, for his life­time com­mit­ment to pro­vid­ing those on death row with qual­i­ty rep­re­sen­ta­tion. Director of the ABA’s Death Penalty Representation Project Emily Olson-Gault not­ed that ​“there is a shrink­ing world of rights for death penal­ty lit­i­gants in the wake of dev­ast­ing U.S. Supreme Court rul­ings.” She added that death penal­ty cas­es are ​“incred­i­bly hard-fought, com­plex cas­es, and yet vol­un­teer attor­neys per­se­vere to make an impact on the pris­on­ers, the jus­tice sys­tem, and our com­mu­ni­ties.” Joining Ms. Olson-Gault in her praise for vol­un­teer attor­neys was Sister Helen Prejean, a long­time spir­i­tu­al advi­sor for those on death row. In her speech titled, ​“Dead Man Walking: Why Representation Matters,” Sister Helen spoke of her per­son­al expe­ri­ence min­is­ter­ing to those on death row and how she jour­neyed to becom­ing an advo­cate for those in the crim­i­nal legal system.

Mr. Olive, a cap­i­tal lit­i­ga­tor, teacher, and advo­cate, has worked in cap­i­tal defense for 40 years and has argued in front of the United States Supreme Court on behalf of sev­er­al death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers. He has also been a crit­i­cal mem­ber of legal teams that secured land­mark pro­tec­tions for death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers, includ­ing Atkins v. Virginia and Hurst v. Florida. Working in Georgia, Mr. Olive helped argue Fleming v. Zant, which banned the exe­cu­tion of the intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled based on the state con­sti­tu­tion. Consulting with attor­neys lit­i­gat­ing Atkins v. Virginia in 2002, Mr. Olive played an essen­tial role in the U.S. Supreme Court’s rul­ing that the exe­cu­tion of indi­vid­u­als with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ties vio­lates the Eighth Amendment. Atkins played a crit­i­cal role in future U.S. Supreme Court deci­sions, includ­ing Roper v. Simmons, which banned exe­cu­tions of juve­niles, and Miller v. Alabama, which banned manda­to­ry life with­out parole sen­tences for juveniles.

In addi­tion to rep­re­sent­ing clients and con­sult­ing on cas­es, Mr. Olive opened the first death penal­ty resource cen­ter in Florida, where he men­tored and advised defense attor­neys. He lat­er held the direc­tor title at both the Georgia and Virginia Resource Centers. After los­ing fund­ing for state-resource cen­ters in the mid-1990s, Mr. Olive helped cre­ate the National Habeas Assistance and Training Counsel (HAT) pro­gram, which pro­vides resources and train­ings on death penal­ty rep­re­sen­ta­tion issues for attorneys.

The Venable law firm and attor­neys Seth Rosenthal and Jonathan Hettleman, along with fed­er­al defend­er Julie Brain, were rec­og­nized for their out­stand­ing work secur­ing sen­tenc­ing relief for Kenneth J. Lighty, a fed­er­al­ly death-sen­tenced man in Maryland. Patel Paresh, Appellate Chief for the Maryland Federal Defender, praised the firm’s efforts, call­ing it ​“some of the finest work [he] has ever seen in [his] 27 years of being an attorney.”