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| N.C. Inmate: Lawyer Drank Too Much |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 08/30/2001 |
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A death row inmate who says his attorney bungled his defense because he drank too much has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop Friday's scheduled execution. Ronald Wayne Frye, 42, faces a lethal injection for the 1993 stabbing death and robbery of his 70-year-old landlord, Ralph Childress. In Frye's petition to the high court, former defense lawyer Ted Cummings Jr. said he didn't pay attention to the trial and should have intervened to help the other lawyer, who admitted a drinking habit. Cummings said in an affidavit that he handled the first phase of the trial and that attorney Tom Portwood handled the sentencing phase, where the jury decided between a death sentence and life in prison. 'One of Frye's counsel, Tom Portwood, has repeatedly admitted to an incredible decade-long drinking habit,' the petition said. 'He has testified that he did no work outside of the courtroom and that he did not search for one document or talk to one eyewitness.' Frye argued that had his attorneys done their jobs, the jury would have heard mitigating evidence that could help explain Frye's behavior and substance abuse. Frye and his brother were given away to strangers when Frye was 4 and their new father routinely hit them with a bullwhip. Frye's appeals in North Carolina courts have been exhausted. Also Tuesday, Gov. Mike Easley met with prosecutors, defense lawyers and others to consider clemency for Frye. Before the meeting, defense lawyers said they would urge clemency because Portwood admitted in an affidavit for another case that he drank 12 shots of rum a day at the time of Frye's trial. Frye said Monday that he never noticed the smell or effects of alcohol on Portwood, but he said the two didn't talk much. Prosecutors have contended that Portwood had a good reputation going into the trial and had helped spare defendants from death sentences in six of seven cases before Frye's. |
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