According to a review by the Houston Chronicle, Texas attorneys who failed to meet deadlines in filing their clients’ appeals forfeited the final opportunity to appeal for at least 9 men, 6 of whom have already been executed. The failures included lawyers who miscalculated or misunderstood the deadlines, computer failures, and human error. Many were dismissed simply because they were filed after business hours on the day of the deadline. James Marcus, an expert in capital case law who teaches in the Capital Punishment Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, said missing the deadline for a federal writ of habeas corpus — thereby waiving all federal review — is the equivalent of “sleeping through the trial.” One attorney missed the deadline to file the appeal for two different clients and blamed a malfunctioning filing machine for his tardiness both times. One of those clients has been executed and the other client was never told that his attorney had missed the deadline—he hadn’t heard from his attorney in over a year. “So what am I supposed to do now?” asked Texas death row inmate Keith Steven Thurmond upon hearing the news from a reporter. The Texas Attorney General’s Office acknowledged that they work aggressively to get late filings dismissed on behalf of the state.

(L. Olsen, “Tardy paperwork takes away final appeals for nine men, six of whom have been executed,” Houston Chronicle, March 22, 2009). See Representation.