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| Alabama Execution Delays Stir Debate |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 07/06/2001 |
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For three consecutive months, attempts to execute three inmates on Alabama's death row have been stalled by federal courts, and in two cases part of the reason was the lack of a lawyer at a crucial point in an appeal. Now advocates for inmates facing death sentences are looking to Congress to put pressure on the state to make changes. 'The state of Alabama bears responsibility of assuring that people who are poor have the same quality of representation as people of above-average means,' said Diann Rust-Tierney of the American Civil Liberties Union's capital punishment project. 'Other states have put money into statewide public defender services.' A bill introduced in March by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., would create a National Commission on Capital Representation and withhold federal funds from states not complying with standards for capital representation. The bill also would provide capital defense incentive grants and resource grants for capital cases. Stephen Bright, director of the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights, an anti-death penalty group, said he will testify in favor of the federal legislation. 'States like Alabama, Georgia and Texas simply are not providing competent lawyers,' Bright said. 'Alabama and a lot of the South have taken some raps on this issue. They ought to make it go away. Don't hand the opponents stuff to beat up on you,' said Michael Rushford, president of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a pro-death penalty group in Sacramento, California. Alabama had 186 men and women on death row as of May 31. The next execution is set in July. State judges can appoint lawyers to represent indigent defendants, and defendants convicted of capital crimes get automatic appeals. However, an inmate who wants to pursue his case beyond that initial appeal - setting up a process that can go on for years - has to request a lawyer and may not find a qualified one willing to work for the limited amount of money available. 'It's a money-losing proposition for a lawyer. It just takes so much time,' said Greg Hughes, a criminal defense lawyer in Mobile. At the trial level, the pay is $60 an hour in court and $40 an hour for out-of-court time on an indigent's case, noted Joe D. Quinlivan Jr., another Mobile lawyer with death-penalty experience. There is no cap on payments at the trial level, he said. During the appeal, there is a maximum of $2,000 for attorney fees at $60 an hour plus a maximum $875 in overhead. That's followed by post-conviction remedies, which pays only $1,000. 'It's really ridiculous,' Quinlivan said. |
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