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| Defense: Georgia refuses to pay Brian Nichols's (c.) legal team, which includes Penelope Marshall (l.) and Jacob Sussman (r.). John Spink/AP |
On trial in Atlanta: Cost of justice
Georgia's death penalty cases are on hold as state, judge wrangle over $1.8 million price tag for defending Brian Nichols.
from the October 29, 2007 edition
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Critics argue that, under the guise of defending Nichols, the defense team is putting the death penalty itself on trial. "This is really more about trying to chip away at Georgia's death-penalty law by the power of the purse," says Representative Ralston. "That's something that we [in the legislature] cannot allow to happen."
Presiding Judge Hilton Fuller has ordered the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, which is responsible for indigent cases, to pay the defense team's bill or face jail time for contempt. The contempt hearing was postponed last week, when Judge Fuller recused himself. Then on Thursday, the House began an impeachment investigation into Fuller's decisions, on charges that the county judge has lost control of spending in the case. The Standards Council has argued that the average death-penalty case costs the state $400,000.
"It's emotionalism," says veteran Atlanta defense attorney Millard Farmer, who supports what he says is Fuller's pursuit of fairness. "It's easy to sell that this man doesn't even need a lawyer – let's just get a rope and a tree. You could sell that point of view, and it was sold for years. But this judge [is] not going to let this man be hung on his rope."
Reforms in Georgia began in 2000 after the legislature heard testimony about country lawyers in over their heads in death-penalty cases. "There was a great movement within the defense bar to ... bring us out of the 'Cool Hand Luke' days," says Tom West, a death-penalty defense attorney in Atlanta.
But funding immediately became an issue. Neighboring North Carolina spends about $14 million a year footing the bill for those who can't afford to hire a lawyer on their own. Georgia's budget is just over $4 million.
"The Nichols case has ... exposed problems with the funding and the lack of will by anyone to fix it," says attorney Chris Adams, who resigned as chair of the state's indigent defense council over the issue.
And some experts have argued that, should Nichols ultimately be convicted of murder and his legal bill not paid, he would have grounds for appeal.
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