A Georgia judge has removed Kelvin Johnson’s pub­lic defend­ers from rep­re­sent­ing him in a death penal­ty case because his lawyers request­ed more time to pre­pare for tri­al. Johnson was being rep­re­sent­ed by attor­neys from the Georgia Capital Defender Office, who said a delay was need­ed because an over­whelm­ing case­load and lack of fund­ing pre­clud­ed them from going for­ward at this time. The Georgia Capital Defender pro­gram, which was start­ed to pro­vide bet­ter rep­re­sen­ta­tion to indi­gent cap­i­tal defen­dants, began rep­re­sent­ing those fac­ing the death penal­ty in 2005, but saw its fund­ing drop from $7 mil­lion to $4.5 mil­lion in only three years. Insufficient fund­ing has led to prob­lems and delays in sev­er­al cas­es, includ­ing one instance in 2010 when attor­neys asked the Georgia Supreme Court to dis­miss the charges against their client or bar the state from seek­ing the death penal­ty because they could not pay expert wit­ness­es, attor­ney fees or inves­ti­ga­tors. Superior Court Judge David Roper, who dis­missed the cap­i­tal defend­ers from the Kelvin Johnson case, plans to appoint lawyers of his own choos­ing, call­ing the Capital Defender Office ​“sys­tem­i­cal­ly bro­ken.” However, W. Travis Sakrison, exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Defender Office, said the delay need­ed in the Johnson case arose from spe­cial cir­cum­stances and was not due to ​“sys­temic” prob­lems at the Georgia Capital Defender.

(K. Martin, ​“Judge’s deci­sion brings to light prob­lems in Georgia Capital Defender pro­gram,” Augusta Chronicle, July 14, 2012). See Representation and Costs.

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