Thursday, February 15, 2007
Justice costs...
Two interesting stories have been building for some time. The first is Atlanta's own trial of the century, that of Brian Nichols for the murders of Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Brandau, Deputy Hoyt Teasley, and Customs Agent David Wilhelm. I'd written previously about the possibility of a deal - Nichols pleading guilty and accepting a life sentence without parole, avoiding both a trial, and a likely death sentence.
Recently, Nichols' defense has quit being circumspect about their willingness to deal, and have more or less declared openly that Nichols would plead guilty if death were off the table. DA Paul Howard has openly rejected the idea, insisting that Nichols' fate be settled by a jury. Which is his call to make, and as I understand things, has the support of the families of the victims.
Meanwhile, Georgia's capital defenders are running out of money. Another capital trial is in danger of screeching to a halt because the defendant's lawyer is claiming the funding gap is going to result in ineffective assistance of counsel. Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Nichols' lawyers claimed the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council was going to stop paying them unless the legislature acted, which according to the GPDSC, isn't going to happen yet, but the fact that this discussion is happening doesn't speak well of the legislature.
A justice system, like everything else the government provides, costs money. Paying to defend murderers may not be the cool fun sort of thing you run for the state legislature to do, but here's the thing: you can't punish criminals unless they have access to effective lawyers. You want to execute murderers? Give them a defense that will stand up to appellate scrutiny.
So in conclusion, a word to the Georgia Legislature - pass a bill funding the capital defenders or pass a bill outlawing the death penalty. Doing neither risks having a judge somewhere shut down the whole process.
Recently, Nichols' defense has quit being circumspect about their willingness to deal, and have more or less declared openly that Nichols would plead guilty if death were off the table. DA Paul Howard has openly rejected the idea, insisting that Nichols' fate be settled by a jury. Which is his call to make, and as I understand things, has the support of the families of the victims.
Meanwhile, Georgia's capital defenders are running out of money. Another capital trial is in danger of screeching to a halt because the defendant's lawyer is claiming the funding gap is going to result in ineffective assistance of counsel. Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Nichols' lawyers claimed the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council was going to stop paying them unless the legislature acted, which according to the GPDSC, isn't going to happen yet, but the fact that this discussion is happening doesn't speak well of the legislature.
A justice system, like everything else the government provides, costs money. Paying to defend murderers may not be the cool fun sort of thing you run for the state legislature to do, but here's the thing: you can't punish criminals unless they have access to effective lawyers. You want to execute murderers? Give them a defense that will stand up to appellate scrutiny.
So in conclusion, a word to the Georgia Legislature - pass a bill funding the capital defenders or pass a bill outlawing the death penalty. Doing neither risks having a judge somewhere shut down the whole process.
