---
title: "Texas Newspaper Studies State's Death Penalty Appeals Process"
description: 'The Austin American-Statesman conducted an extensive study of the quality of representation that death row inmates receive in Texas. The study concluded…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/texas-newspaper-studies-states-death-penalty-appeals-process'
section: news
date: '2006-10-30T20:17:27-05:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T14:24:28-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

The Austin American-Statesman conducted an extensive study of the quality of representation that death row inmates receive in Texas. The study concluded that:

> Sheltered by an indifferent Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, lawyers appointed  
>  to handle appeals for death row inmates routinely bungle the job, submitting  
>  work that falls far below professional standards, frequently at taxpayer expense.
> 
> Some appeals are incomplete, incomprehensible or improperly argued. Others are  
>  duplicated, poorly, from previous appeals.
> 
> Whatever their condition, these pieces of shoddy legal work have been  
>  tolerated by the state's highest criminal court for 11 years — during which  
>  273 men and women were executed — despite a state law requiring the court to  
>  ensure that the condemned receive competent legal help.
> 
> The court has failed in that obligation, allowing lawyers to submit sloppy,  
>  lazy and inferior work with little oversight and no fear of consequences,  
>  according to an Austin American-Statesman examination that raises troubling  
>  questions about the quality of death penalty justice in the nation's leading  
>  execution state.

One of the appeals cited in the study was written by an appointed attorney, Toby Wilkinson, who clearly just copied portions of a letter written by his client on death row. The paper quoted the brief to the court, and noted:

> "I'm just about out of carbon paper," reads the bizarre appeal, which earned  
>  Wilkinson $22,270 from the Texas treasury. "As soon as I get some more typing  
>  supplies I have about thirty more errors I want . . . in my appeal."

The paper described the response of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to the dismal quality of representation in many cases as "feeble."

(Chuck Lindell, Austin American-Statesman, Oct. 29, 2006; two-part series, [**"Writs Gone Wrong,"**](https://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/interactive/10/102906_habeas.html) Oct. 29-30, 2006). See [**Representation**](/death-penalty-representation?did=896&scid=68) and [**Arbitrariness**](/arbitrariness?did=1328).