A Cincinnati Enquirer investigation of Ohio capital cases found that more death sentences are overturned in the state because of mistakes by defense lawyers than for any other reason. Reporters with the Enquirer found that 15 people on Ohio’s death row won federal appeals during the past seven years based entirely or in part on the poor performance of their lawyers. “It’s a big, big problem. The lawyers don’t have the wherewithal to put on a first-class defense,” observed Judge Gilbert Merritt, a semi-retired senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati.

In his review of appeals filed with the 6th Circuit, reporter Dan Horn of the Enquirer found evidence that some capital defense attorneys never spoke to their clients, and others hired unqualified experts or none at all. In other instances, defense attorneys neglected to read key documents or conduct basic investigations or interviews with their own witnesses. One attorney failed to notice when prosecutors admitted they could not prove who shot the victim, and two others broke out in laughter during arguments before the Ohio Supreme Court.

In all, 19 people on death row in three states - including 15 from Ohio, three from Tennessee, and one from Kentucky - received relief from the 6th Circuit based on “ineffective assistance of counsel” claims since 2000. Though most of these reversals concerned death sentences rather than convictions, new trials were ordered for four inmates: one person is awaiting a new trial, one pleaded guilty to avoid a death sentence, one died in prison, and another’s conviction was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court. Federal appeals Judge Danny Boggs noted, “If counsel provides ineffective assistance, then the prisoner is likely to be spared, certainly for many years, and frequently forever.”

Some experts say these problems are a direct result of poor training for capital defense attorneys, who are often underpaid or simply overmatched by law enforcement’s resources. The Enquirer reported that the problem of inadequate capital defense representation costs taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills, and forces victims’ family members and families of the accused to endure years of legal challenges.
(Cincinnati Enquirer, April 16, 2007). See Representation.
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