Representation
Articles Regarding Capital Representation
Current
Mark Bookman, 10 Ways to Blow a Death Penalty Case, Mother Jones, April 22, 2014.
Robert Smith, The Worst Lawyers, Slate, November 5, 2015.
Wire Services, Texas lawyer who never won a capital murder case calls it quits defending ‘the very worst’ clients, Dallas News, August 2016.
David Rose, Death row: the lawyer who keeps losing, The Guardian, November 24, 2016
Historical
An examination of 461 capital cases by The Dallas Morning News found that nearly one in four condemned inmates has been represented at trial or on appeal by court-appointed attorneys who have been disciplined for professional misconduct at some point in their careers. (“Quality Of Justice” Dallas Morning News, September 10, 2000).
An investigation by the Texas Defender Service found that, “Death row inmates today face a one-in-three chance of being executed without having the case properly investigated by a competent attorney and without having any claims of innocence or unfairness presented or heard.” (Lethal Indifference: The Fatal Combination of Incompetent Attorneys and Unaccountable Courts Texas Defender Service, 2002).
In Washington state, one-fifth of the 84 people who have faced execution in the past 20 years were represented by lawyers who had been, or were later, disbarred, suspended or arrested. (Overall, the state’s disbarment rate for attorneys is less than 1%.) (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Aug. 6-8, 2001).
According to an investigation by the Chicago Tribune, 12% of those sentenced to death from 1976-1999 were represented by, “an attorney who had been, or was later, disbarred or suspended—disciplinary sanctions reserved for conduct so incompetent, unethical or even criminal that the state believes an attorney’s license should be taken away.” An additional 9.5% inmates, “have received a new trial or sentencing because their attorneys’ incompetence rendered the verdict or sentence unfair, court records show.” (Ken Armstrong and Steve Mills, “Inept Defenses Cloud Verdict,” Chicago Tribune, November 15, 1999).
In North Carolina, at least 16 death row inmates, including 3 who were executed, were represented by lawyers who have been disbarred or disciplined for unethical or criminal conduct. (Charlotte Observer, Sept. 9, 2000).