Gregory Wilson is sched­uled for exe­cu­tion in Kentucky on September 16, despite hav­ing been rep­re­sent­ed by woe­ful­ly unqual­i­fied and unpre­pared attor­neys in his death penal­ty tri­al. It took over a year for the tri­al judge to find an attor­ney to take Wilson’s case. Wilson was indi­gent, and the max­i­mum state fee for a cap­i­tal-mur­der rep­re­sen­ta­tion was $2,500. The judge even put a note on his cour­t­house door, say­ing: ​“PLEASE HELP. DESPERATE. THIS CASE CANNOT BE CONTINUED AGAIN.” Eventually, two lawyers agreed to take the case: John Foote, who had nev­er tried a felony (much less a cap­i­tal) case, and William Hagedorn, a semi-retired lawyer who gave as his office num­ber the phone of the local bar, ​“Kelly’s Keg.” Hagedon vol­un­teered to be lead coun­sel for free, even though he had no office, no staff, no copy machine and no law books. According to wit­ness­es, Wilson’s lawyers came and went dur­ing tri­al, and attor­ney Hagedorn was absent more than half the time. The lawyers failed to inter­view and sub­poe­na wit­ness­es, inves­ti­gate evi­dence col­lect­ed by police, or con­tact cer­tain fam­i­ly mem­bers who would have tes­ti­fied on behalf of spar­ing Wilson’s life. Stephen Bright, pres­i­dent of the Southern Center for Human Rights, said that Wilson’s case is a ​“trav­es­ty of jus­tice and among the worst exam­ples he’s ever seen of a defen­dant tried for his life with unqualified counsel.”

To com­pound mat­ters, Wilson’s co-defen­dant, who tes­ti­fied against him, was hav­ing a sex­u­al rela­tion­ship with anoth­er judge in the cir­cuit dur­ing the time of the tri­al. The co-defen­dant, Brenda Humphrey, a for­mer pros­ti­tute, had an inti­mate affair with Circuit Judge James Gilliece dur­ing Wilson’s tri­al in 1988. Judge Gilliece was a col­league of the tri­al judge. Had this infor­ma­tion been avail­able dur­ing the tri­al, Wilson may have been able to use the rela­tion­ship to chal­lenge Humphrey’s cred­i­bil­i­ty when she tes­ti­fied against him. Instead, Wilson now faces exe­cu­tion in Kentucky. He would be the fourth per­son exe­cut­ed in the state since 1976, and the sec­ond inmate who did not vol­un­teer for execution.

(A. Wolfson, ​“Kentucky death-row inmate’s tri­al lit­tered with prob­lems,” Louisville Courier-Journal, September 7, 2010). See Arbitrariness and Representation.

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