15.1% of cap­i­tal defen­dants sen­tenced to death in Pennsylvania since 1980 were rep­re­sent­ed at tri­al by a lawyer who has been dis­ci­plined for pro­fes­sion­al mis­con­duct, and that has risen to 18.2% in the past decade, accord­ing to an inves­tiga­tive report by The Reading Eagle. These rates of dis­ci­pline were between 5 and 6 times high­er than the 3% dis­ci­pli­nary rate for Pennsylvania lawyers as a whole over the past 30 years. The dis­ci­pli­nary issues have dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly affect­ed minor­i­ty defen­dants: 83% of the death-row pris­on­ers who had been rep­re­sent­ed by lawyers with dis­ci­pli­nary vio­la­tions were black or Latino. The Eagle​’s review of more than 300 cap­i­tal cas­es also revealed that two thirds of the dis­ci­plined lawyers had been found to have pro­vid­ed inef­fec­tive rep­re­sen­ta­tion in at least one case in which their clients had been sen­tenced to death. Ineffectiveness accounts for near­ly 60% of cap­i­tal case rever­sals in Pennsylvania and is the most com­mon rea­son a con­vic­tion or death sen­tence is over­turned. In 2004, Pennsylvania cre­at­ed Rule 801, which estab­lished min­i­mum expe­ri­ence require­ments for attor­neys in cap­i­tal cas­es. However, the rule con­tains no qual­i­ty con­trols, does not man­date any per­for­mance eval­u­a­tions, and does not set any base­line for attor­ney com­pen­sa­tion. Marc Bookman, direc­tor of the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation, said low pay for appoint­ed cap­i­tal attor­neys is part of the prob­lem. ​“Only the worst lawyers would con­sid­er tak­ing these cas­es on a reg­u­lar basis because you can’t make a liv­ing doing it,” he said. Pennsylvania is not alone in its high rates of mis­con­duct for lawyers appoint­ed to cap­i­tal tri­als. In Texas, one in four death row inmates had been rep­re­sent­ed by attor­neys who were dis­ci­plined for mis­con­duct, and in Washington, the same was true of one in five. 

In 58% of the Pennsylvania cas­es involv­ing lawyers with dis­ci­pli­nary vio­la­tions, the lawyer had already been dis­ci­plined for mis­con­duct before receiv­ing his appoint­ment. In 1/​4 of the cas­es in which death-sen­tenced defen­dants were rep­re­sent­ed by a dis­ci­plined lawyer, that lawyer had a crim­i­nal record at the time he was assigned to the case. Almost two thirds of the dis­ci­plined attor­neys received the high­est lev­els of dis­ci­pli­nary action: sus­pen­sion or dis­bar­ment. 45% had been dis­ci­plined multiple times.

(N. Brambila, ​“Disorder in the court: Troubled attor­neys often take on cap­i­tal cas­es,” The Reading Eagle, October 25, 2015.) See Representation and Race.

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