November 6, 2005
Death penalty getting costly in Mississippi
Counties having to foot high bills for defense attorneys
By Charlie Mitchell
Special to The Clarion-Ledger
VICKSBURG — A killer who sets a house on fire to
murder the family inside has a better chance of being tried, convicted
and eventually executed if the crime is committed in De-Soto or Lee or
Hinds counties in Mississippi than Humphreys or Leake or Wayne. The
reason is simple: Money.
Now more than ever, counties in this
state have to weigh the cost when deciding whether they can afford to
put a person on trial and ask a jury to return a death sentence. It's
not the cost of prosecution; it's the cost of defense.
Even
wealthier counties, such as those named, would be hard-pressed to
afford such cases. Counties without substantial tax bases simply could
not do it. Residents of Quitman County know this. In July, the state
Supreme Court reaffirmed its position that local governments, not the
state, must pay lawyers for felony defendants who cannot afford private
counsel.
Quitman, population 10,500, had borrowed hundreds of
thousands of dollars to provide attorneys for two men accused of
killing four members of a family in 1999. The county has sued,
repeatedly, to try to get state money, but the court, with two justices
dissenting, said, "Nope."Attorneys for the county said they may
press the matter in federal courts, but for now that one criminal case
has essentially bankrupted the Delta county.
Why does a capital case cost so much?
The answer entails a little history.The
U.S. Constitution, in effect since 1789, and the Mississippi
Constitution, in effect since 1890, both specifically say those accused
of crimes have an absolute right to an attorney. A problem has been
that the right was meaningless for those without money. By 1932, this
was so troubling to the U.S. Supreme Court that justices said, in an
Alabama case, having a defense lawyer was an "essential safeguard of
liberty."
At that time, they left it to the states to decide how to hire and fund defense counsel for the poor. The states did nothing.But
the issue kept coming up again and again, and in a 1963 case involving
a Florida burglar, the Supreme Court said, "That's that." From that day
on, an accused person who couldn't afford representation had a right to
an attorney whose fee would be paid from the public treasury.
On
a parallel track through the same years, and as recently as 2004, the
Supreme Court has been raising the hurdles states must clear before a
condemned person can be put to death.
But more than anything
else, the Supreme Court has insisted that when it comes to death
penalty cases, court-appointed defense attorneys must show a high level
of competence.It's on this point where Mississippi, much to the joy of those who oppose capital punishment, has simply not stepped up.
The
statistics prove it. Since 1976, when the Supreme Court lifted a
moratorium on all executions, Texas has the record: 351 people put to
death. Across the South, the numbers are Louisiana, 27; Arkansas, 26;
Alabama, 34; Georgia, 39; Florida, 60 — and Mississippi, 6. (Rates of
homicides per 100,000 residents are fairly even across the seven
states, except Louisiana where murders are double the average.)What
those other states have done and Mississippi has not is make a big
investment of public funds in defending people accused of capital
crimes. It may seem strange, but a state that really wants felons to
pay the maximum penalty must make sure those accused have nothing but
the best in terms of their legal team.
This is not theory, it's
fact; and legislators who follow such matters are thoroughly aware of
why more capital felons here don't suffer the fate they would in
neighboring states.
Fewer and fewer district attorneys will
choose to subject their local taxpayers to the cost of prosecutions
where the death penalty is an option for jurors. Can't afford it.Many
have pleaded loud and long for an end to all capital punishment in
America. They hoped to win on principle. Instead, they're winning on
cost.
Charlie Mitchell is executive editor of The Vicksburg Post. Write to him at P.O. Box 821668, Vicksburg MS 39182, or e-mail post@vicksburg.com.
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