High court blocks death penalty prosecutions for 1999 murder
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Justices rule lawyers haven't been paid adequately to defend prison inmates in killing of guard
10/26/2007 -
The state Supreme Court has put on hold the death penalty prosecutions of two prison inmates charged with killing a guard during a 1999 riot.The court ruled Thursday that the prosecutions could not move forward until additional money was provided by the Legislature to adequately pay defense lawyers whom the state contracted with to represent the inmates.
Based on cost estimates provided by the defense teams, the court said an additional $200,000 must be appropriated before the death penalty cases could move ahead.
Reis Lopez and Robert Young have been charged with killing Ralph Garcia, who was a guard at a privately operated prison in Santa Rosa. The state houses inmates in the prison.
Prosecutors brought charges against 15 inmates but sought the death penalty against three. The third defendant, David Sanchez, is not part of the challenge decided by the Supreme Court.
"Defense counsels' compensation is inadequate under the facts of this case, violating defendants' Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel," the court said in its unanimous ruling.
The attorney general's office and the state Public Defender Department had argued that enough money had been allocated for an adequate defense of the inmates. The department is part of Gov. Bill Richardson's administration and provides defense lawyers — often contracting with them — for criminal defendants who can't afford to hire an attorney.
Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for Richardson, said the governor's office needed to review the court's ruling before commenting on whether additional money for the death penalty prosecutions would be requested from the Legislature next year by the administration. The Legislature convenes Jan. 15 for a 30-day session.
Defense lawyers had asked the high court to either allow them to withdraw from the case, order the state to pay them more or dismiss the death penalty against their clients.
The defense lawyers contended enough money has been provided by the state to allow them to adequately defend their clients against murder charges if there was no death penalty as a possible sentence.
Contracts with the defense teams expired in November 2003, and the lawyers have not been paid since then although they have continued to work on the cases.
Fees for the defense lawyers were revised several times, according to the court, and contract amendments were offered that provided for a total of $46,500 for each main attorney through trial and $23,000 for each "second-chair" attorney. The defense lawyers did not sign the contract amendments, however. In 2005, the Legislature provided an additional $100,000 for each of the three death penalty defense teams. An extra $200,000 per defense team had been requested from the Legislature, but lawmakers trimmed the amount.
About $870,000 also had been provided by lawmakers but defense lawyers say that should go only to pay for expert witnesses.
If the Legislature provides the additional money required by the court for the death penalty cases to move ahead, the court said, each defense team will be paid at a rate of $75 an hour for each attorney — up to $200,000, plus the previously offered contract amendments that raised the pay for each lawyer.
The court stressed its ruling applied only to attorney compensation in this case, and "we make no determination that similar fees or rates are constitutionally required in other cases."
