FEATURED POST

As clock ticks toward another Trump presidency, federal death row prisoners appeal for clemency

Image
President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office is putting a spotlight on the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, which houses federal death row. In Bloomington, a small community of death row spiritual advisors is struggling to support the prisoners to whom they minister.  Ross Martinie Eiler is a Mennonite, Episcopal lay minister and member of the Catholic Worker movement, which assists the homeless. And for the past three years, he’s served as a spiritual advisor for a man on federal death row.

Louisiana spent $7.7 million on death penalty defense. It hasn’t executed anyone in 13 years. Public defenders say money could be better spent on other needs.

Louisiana spent $7.7 million providing legal defense to people facing the death penalty in 2022, according to the Louisiana Public Defender’s Office, even though the state hasn’t executed anyone in 13 years. 

The most recently Louisiana has put someone to death was Gerald Bordelon in January 2010, after he waived his right to legal appeals and fast-tracked his own killing. Prior to his death, Louisiana hadn’t executed anyone since 2002. 

State officials told a federal judge last spring they haven’t been able to obtain the drugs needed to carry out a lethal injection in years and stopped scheduling executions as a result. Gov. John Bel Edwards also doesn’t appear to be enthusiastic about capital punishment. He has refused to share his personal views on the death penalty.

Regardless of whether executions are moving forward, Louisiana must provide a vigorous defense for people who face death sentences. Federal law requires robust legal services and extra scrutiny for capital crimes. 

The Louisiana Public Defender Board outsources most of the state’s capital defense to five nonprofit organizations with attorneys who specialize in death penalty defense. Four of them – Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center, Capital Post-Conviction Project of Louisiana, Baton Rouge Capital Conflict, Inc. and the Capital Appeals Project – were among the top 10 most expensive legal contracts in all of state government in the last budget cycle, according to a state report on government contracts.

The $7.7 million spent last year covered initial trials, appeals and post-conviction legal challenges. It also includes approximately $195,000 for expert witnesses and extra funding to the public defender’s office in Jefferson Parish, which handles some of its own capital cases, according to State Public Defender Rémy Voisin Starns.

In 2022, there were only 18 open capital cases and two appeals across the state, Starns said, but his office is also responsible for the representation of approximately two-thirds of the 62 people who are on death row. The outside attorneys also work on cases where the death penalty is initially a possibility but doesn’t come into play.

Starns said the state would do better to eliminate capital punishment and spend that money on other public defender needs.

On Monday, he asked legislators for an additional $5 million to buy office buildings for public defenders around the state. He also wants to hire six social workers to help with juvenile defendants, who have a difficult time communicating with their assigned attorneys.

Caddo, Lafayette and East Baton Rouge parishes also need more local public defender staff attorneys, and the state should start offering all public defenders health insurance and retirement benefits, Starns said. Some local governments cover the cost of health insurance and retirement for their public defenders, but those benefits aren’t offered in every part of the state, he said.

In the last budget cycle, the governor and legislators spent $50.5 million from the state’s general funds on public defense, but one of its other main sources of funding is falling off a financial cliff. There’s been a drastic drop in the collection of traffic court fees across the state, which are used to pay for public defenders.

The number of traffic court filings in court went from 1.26 million in 2009 to just 475,335 in 2021, according to a budget presentation from legislative staff given Monday. That means public defense has been losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue each year for a few years in a row.

Source: postsouth.com, Julie O'Donoghue, Louisiana Illuminator, March 21, 2023


_____________________________________________________________________




_____________________________________________________________________


FOLLOW US ON:


TELEGRAM


TWITTER







HELP US KEEP THIS BLOG UP & RUNNING!



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


— Oscar Wilde

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

Biden Has 65 Days Left in Office. Here’s What He Can Do on Criminal Justice.

Alabama executes Carey Dale Grayson, carries out nation's 3rd nitrogen gas execution

Singapore executes third drug trafficker in a week

Indonesia | Bali Nine prisoners to be sent home

Singapore | Imminent unlawful execution for drug trafficking

Mary Jane Veloso to return to Philippines after 14-year imprisonment in Indonesia

USA | Pro-Trump prison warden asks Biden to commute all death sentences before leaving

Texas Supreme Court Rules that a New Execution Date Can be Set for Robert Roberson