Texas: Austin has too few defense lawyers for death penalty cases

When you see one at the courthouse, the other usually is nearby.

Allan Williams and Steve Brittain, friends for decades, are among a handful of Travis County defense attorneys who are approved to represent indigent defendants in death penalty cases.

Both are 68 and not long from turning in their courthouse badges and retiring. And that’s a concern, according to observers, who point to a shortage of up-and-comers ready to replenish the roster.

“It’s dwindling,” state District Judge Julie Kocurek said.

Capital murder cases chew up big chunks of time — 400 hours, sometimes — which might be the biggest reason just nine attorneys in Austin have applied and been approved to represent the indigent defendants in the 21 capital cases pending in Travis County.

Williams has three of them and Brittain two. They’re teaming up on another one.

“It’s challenging,” Brittain said. “It might be a little like childbirth. You forget how bad it is, and then you want to do it again.”

The vast majority of capital murder defendants are indigent and receive free legal representation that’s paid for by the county.

Hoping to recruit reinforcement attorneys, Kocurek, chairwoman of a judicial region that covers 26 Central Texas counties, put together a symposium Thursday that attracted about 45 lawyers to the Austin Bar Association building for education on the finer points of capital law.

Why should the public care? Because, says lawyer Ariel Payan, there will be significant costs to taxpayers if the county has to cast a wider net and bring in attorneys from other counties.

Payan’s docket includes nine capital cases — four with him as lead counsel — plus another one in Waco. Increasing the stable of capital-approved attorneys “would be a benefit,” he said.

“We need capable people,” he said. “The last thing you want is to convict an innocent person or have to try a case again because the trial attorney screwed up.”

Lawyers who defend those charged with capital murder are paid $150 per hour by the county. On the low end, they’ll make $30,000. But more complicated cases can reach $60,000.

There are 20 attorneys in Travis County who are approved to provide second-chair assistance in indigent cases.

Simple murder rises to capital murder — and puts the death penalty on the table — when the defendant is charged with an associated crime such as robbery, kidnapping or aggravated sexual assault. A conviction triggers an automatic sentence of life without parole. Unless, of course, the state seeks death.

Unlike other areas in the state that dole out far more death sentences — Texas’ 543 executions outnumber the next six states combined — Travis County generally prefers life sentences. The most recent death penalty case was for cop killer Brandon Daniel, who a jury decided should die after finding him guilty in 2014 of the 2012 shooting of Austin police officer Jaime Padron.

District Attorney Margaret Moore has yet to pursue the death penalty in her eight months on the job but says she’s in favor of execution when it’s appropriate. Two defendants accused in separate slayings at the University of Texas fail to satisfy the state’s criteria for death. Meechaiel Criner was 17 in April 2016, when he is accused of strangling UT student Haruka Weiser. Kendrex White, who authorities say killed Harrison Brown in a random stabbing spree in May, is not charged with any associated crimes that would bring capital charges.

It’s not uncommon for a death penalty trial to last a month, with jury selection alone eating up two weeks. Lawyers press 120 or more jurors on their feelings about the death penalty.

Invariably, Brittain said, a juror will comment that he looks exhausted.

“Yes, ma’am,” Brittain responds, setting up the punch line. “I’m 35 years old.”

Source: My Statesman, Ryan Autullo, Sept. 4, 2017

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde