Death penalty attorneys in Louisiana in short supply

Louisiana Execution Chamber

Richard Bourke from the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center said right now there is a shortage of lawyers available to handle this kind of work.

"If the district attorney indicts someone on first-degree murder and is seeking the death penalty, there is going to be a problem finding a lawyer almost anywhere in the state because the system is full," said Bourke.

Eyewitness News legal analyst Chick Foret said Louisiana law ensures death penalty defendants get proper representation.

"Someone who is declared indigent has to have two attorneys appointed by the court who have previously been qualified to handle capital cases," said Foret.

Bourke said there are about 120 death penalty cases in the pipeline in Louisiana.

While rare in New Orleans, right now Baton Rouge has about 30 capital murder cases pending.

"Baton Rouge is in a real crisis of representation," said Bourke. "They've got more capital cases pending than anywhere in the state. The local public defender in Baton Rouge doesn't have the money to put lawyers on all of those cases."

Bourke says the state Indigent Defender Board is also running out of money to pay for death penalty defense.

"Death penalty cases are the most sophisticated, complicated and labor intensive cases in the criminal justice system and the stakes are the highest. If you as a lawyer are defending someone and you don't do your job, they are going to be killed."

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Source: wwwltv.com, October 3, 2012

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