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| Attorney says his drinking could have hurt death case |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 10/19/2001 |
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A North Carolina defense attorney whose alcohol consumption was the subject of a death row appeal says his drinking may have affected another case in which a man was sentenced to death. Thomas Portwood testified Monday in Superior Court that his habit may have affected his representation of Nathan Bowie, who was sentenced to death eight years ago for killing two men. Portwood also represented Ronald Frye, executed in August for the 1993 murder of his landlord. Several prominent attorneys filed appeals that said Frye should have gotten a life sentence instead because Portwood did such a poor job. State and federal courts rejected the appeals. Portwood said Monday that he drank half a fifth of 80-proof rum every night during Bowie's trial. 'I did not feel I was impaired at the time,' Portwood said, 'but I know what the scientific studies show, and they show that alcohol is an impairing substance.' The attorney said therapy helped him realize alcohol could have affected his performance without his realizing it. Bowie, 30, was sentenced to death in 1993 for the murders two years earlier of two men outside an apartment complex. Bowie and his new attorneys have asked a judge for a new trial, or at least a new sentencing hearing. The defense lawyers contend Bowie's case was damaged by Portwood's drinking and the inexperience of co-counsel Mark Killian. |
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