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Friday, July 08, 2011
Ind. Courts - "Jeffrey Weisheit likely to get new lead defense attorney on Friday"
This story is an interesting commentary on death penalty representation requirements in Indiana.
Mark Wilson reports in the Evansville Courier & Press:
A New Albany, Ind., attorney has agreed to step in as lead defense attorney in the death penalty trial of Jeffrey Weisheit, pending a judge's approval Friday.Vanderburgh County Chief Public Defender Stephen Owens said Michael McDaniel has agreed to fill the vacancy left by the June 9 death of Weisheit's former lead defense attorney, Timothy Dodd. Owens is serving as second attorney in the case. Owens is traveling to Jeffersonville, Ind., today where Clark County Circuit Judge Daniel Moore will rule on appointing McDaniel. * * *
Indiana law requires two defense attorneys for death penalty cases involving the use of public defenders and dictates the required qualifications for both lead and second attorneys.
Owens said he and Dodd were the only death penalty-qualified defense attorneys in the county when former Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Stan Levco announced he would seek the death penalty against Weisheit in April 2010.
With Dodd's death, the judge was left with the option of seeking an attorney from another county. Lead attorneys in death penalty cases are required to have five years of experience, have tried five felony jury trials, been a lead or co-defender in at least one death penalty case and completed 12 hours of death penalty training within the past two years.
Second attorneys must have three years of experience, have tried three jury trials and completed the 12-hour training seminar.
There are plenty of experienced criminal trial lawyers in Vanderburgh County, including several with death penalty experience, Owens said.
"The sticking point is that those people did not keep the 12 hours of training requirement up to date," he said.
Attorneys must pursue the training at their own expense, he said. Also, while compensation for trying death penalty cases must meet a minimum $109 per hour rate in Indiana, it is below what they would bill in private practice and often eats into the time available for other work.
"You wake up thinking about it at 3 a.m., work on it nights and weekends," he said.
The Indiana Public Defender Council offers the training every two years so lawyers can maintain their certification, but if a lawyer wants to recertify in an off year they must travel to a seminar in another state.
Those factors have resulted in fewer attorneys maintaining their qualifications.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 8, 2011 05:26 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts