REPORT: ​“Lethally Deficient” Texas Death Penalty Appeal System in ​“Dire Need of Reform”

A September 20 report by the Texas Defender Service says that Texas “has failed to ensure effective counsel” for appellants in capital cases and that the state’s system of reviewing death penalty cases on direct appeal is “in dire need of reform.” The report, titled Lethally Deficient, reviewed all 84 capital direct appeals decided by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) from 2009 to 2015 and identified numerous “persistent deficits in the provision of counsel on direct appeal in death penalty cases.” Among those problems, the report found that the Texas capital defense system “fails to meaningfully evaluate attorney qualifications” before assigning a lawyer to handle a capital appeal; “understaffs the defense” by appointing only one lawyer—frequently a solo practitioner—to the case; improperly “subjects defense counsel to political pressures”; provides inconsistent and often inadequate resources and compensation; and fails to control attorney workload to ensure that appointed lawyers have time to provide appropriate representation. The report said that, these “fundamental flaws … led to multiple instances” in which appeal lawyers recycled boilerplate arguments relying on outdated legal authority that had already been rejected in other cases, failed to meet or consult with their clients before filing briefs, failed to file replies to prosecutors’ briefs, and failed to seek review of the case by the U.S. Supreme Court. During the period examined, the CCA upheld every capital conviction and more than 94% of all death sentences, and overturned just three death verdicts. Looking at 1,060 capital direct appeal decisions between 2005 and 2015 by courts in the other 30 death penalty states, the study found that Texas’s reversal rate was 2.8 times lower than the national average. “The tragedy of direct appeals in Texas capital cases is not simply that lawyers underperform, often pasting together briefs, skipping oral argument, or declining to do other basic tasks such as filing reply briefs. It is that everyone knows that this is happening, from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on down. It is an embarrassment to the legal profession and a testament to the low expectations in Texas surrounding defense representation in capital cases,” said Jordan Steiker, Co-Director of the Capital Punishment Center at The University of Texas School of Law. The Texas Defender Service offers three major reform recommendations, suggesting that Texas should 1) “establish a statewide capital appellate defender office,” 2) “create a statewide appointment system with effective caseload controls and uniform attorney compensation,” and 3) “appoint two lawyers to represent death-sentenced defendants on direct appeal.” Kathryn Kase, executive director of the Texas Defender Service, said “Texas has made enormous strides in its effort to reform indigent legal services in general, and in capital indigent representation, since 2001.” These new measures, she said “are the necessary next steps in delivering a promise that the first Texas Code of Criminal Procedure laid out in 1857, promising adequate legal assistance to indigents facing the mighty powers of the state.”

(“Lethally Deficient: Direct Appeals in Texas Death Penalty Cases,” Texas Defender Service, September 20, 2016; M. Ward, “Report: Texas death penalty appeals process deeply flawed,” Houston Chronicle, September 20, 2016; San Antonio Express-News, September 20, 2016; Press Release, “New Report Examines Texas Death Penalty Direct Appeal Process and Practices,” Texas Defender Service, September 20, 2016.) See Representation.