Recent exonerations from death row, such as the release of Levon Jones in North Carolina on May 3, have been linked to the poor quality of representation some of these inmates received. This raises particular concern as the nation resumed executions on May 6. William Lynd of Georgia was the first person executed since Sept. 25, 2007. But Georgia’s new public defender system has had its budget cut back and has been forced to eliminate more than 40 positions. Robin Maher of the American Bar Association’s Death Penalty Representation Project commented, “I wish I could say that things have gotten a lot better, but in fact I can say with confidence that things have changed not much at all. We are seeing the same kinds of egregiously bad lawyering that we saw 10 or 15 years ago, for a variety of reasons, including inadequate funding.”
Of the 36 states that allow the death penalty, only about 10 have statewide capital-defense systems, one of the practices recommended by the ABA. North Carolina has made some improvements to its defense system after severe criticism, but inmates like Jones, the 8th person exonerated from North Carolina, was sentenced to death before the changes. A federal judge in his case concluded, “Jones received two appointed attorneys that spent virtually no time or effort investigating the offense or his background.” The court overturned Jones’ conviction and the District Attorney dropped all charges.
The previous inmate freed in North Carolina was Glenn Chapman. According to the N.Y. Times, “Judge Robert C. Ervin of State Superior Court ruled in April that Mr. Chapman’s lawyers had failed their client, noting that one of them could recall interviewing only one witness and had visited the crime scenes for the first time two weeks before trial. The lawyers had both admitted to heavy drinking during other trials. Judge Ervin also found that Dennis Rhoney, then a police detective, knowingly presented false and misleading information on the stand. The State Bureau of Investigation is reviewing perjury claims against Mr. Rhoney.”
(S. Dewan, “Releases from Death Row Raise Doubts over Quality of Defense,” N.Y. Times, May 7, 2008). See Innocence and Representation. There have been 129 inmates exonerated and freed from death row since 1973.
