Inadequate Counsel
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The failure to provide adequate counsel to capital defendants and death row prisoners is a defining feature of the American death penalty. Whether a defendant will be sentenced to death typically depends more on the quality of his legal team than any other factor. While some lawyers have provided outstanding representation to capital defendants, few defendants facing capital charges can afford to hire an attorney, so they are appointed attorneys who are frequently overworked, underpaid, and/or inexperienced in trying death penalty cases. In some cases, lawyers representing defendants in capital trials have slept through parts of trial, shown up in court intoxicated, and failed to do any work at all in preparation for the sentencing phase.
Alabama is the only state in the country without a state-funded program to provide legal assistance to death row prisoners. There is no state-wide public defender program in the state and, in some counties, defendants have been sentenced to death after trials where they were represented by a lawyer who did not meet even the minimum requirement of five years of criminal defense experience. Over half of the 200 people on Alabama’s death row were represented at trial by appointed lawyers whose compensation for out-of-court preparation was capped at $1000.
Unlike every other state in the country that uses the death penalty, Alabama does not provide legal assistance to death row inmates to challenge the inadequate representation they received at trial or other aspects of their conviction or sentence in post-conviction proceedings. EJI filed a class-action lawsuit challenging Alabama’s failure to provide counsel for Alabama death row prisoners for these critical appeals and continues to advocate for change in this area.
News
In Death Penalty Case, U.S. Supreme Court Reaffirms Importance of Right to Effective Counsel
July 1, 2010On June 29, 2010, the United States Supreme Court reversed Georgia death row inmate Demarcus Sears’s case because his trial attorney failed to thoroughly investigate mitigating evidence and did not present compelling evidence that could have resulted in a sentence other than death. The Court emphasized that a trial lawyer can fall short of his constitutional obligation to investigate and present mitigating evidence even if he puts on some evidence about the defendant at the penalty phase.
Eleventh Circuit Rule Barring Federal Review of Death Penalty Case Filed After Deadline Reversed by U.S. Supreme Court
June 24, 2010On June 14, 2010, the United States Supreme Court held that a federal appeal filed after a deadline nonetheless can be reviewed on the merits if the late filing was caused by extraordinary circumstances outside a prisoner’s control. The Court ruled that Florida death row prisoner Albert Holland must be given the chance to show that his lawyer’s negligent conduct caused him to miss the deadline for filing a challenge his death sentence.
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Alabama Death Row Inmate's Challenge to His Sentence Must Be Heard
June 24, 2010Today, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Alabama death row inmate Billy Joe Magwood's challenge to the constitutionality of his death sentence must be heard.
Death Row Inmate Emanuel Gissendanner Wins New Trial After Questions Raised About His Guilt
April 30, 2010A Dale County Circuit Court has ordered a new trial for Emanuel Gissendanner because his trial lawyers' poor performance and the prosecution's failure to turn over evidence violated his constitutional rights. The ruling came after the same judge who presided over the original trial heard compelling testimony from alibi witnesses, forensic experts, and family members that raised questions about whether Mr. Gissendanner committed the capital murder for which he was sentenced to death.
EJI Honors George Kendall and Thomas Sager and Celebrates the Release of Diane Jones
March 25, 2010
EJI staff with honoree Diane Jones, second from left.
On March 23, 2010, EJI honored George Kendall, Director of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey's Public Service Initiative, and Thomas Sager, general counsel of the DuPont Company and DuPont's legal department, with its Equal Justice Award. The second annual award event celebrated the triumph of Diane Jones, the first woman in Alabama to be released from Tutwiler Prison after being sentenced to life in prison without parole.