Gregory Wilson is scheduled for execution in Kentucky on September 16, despite having been represented by woefully unqualified and unprepared attorneys in his death penalty trial. It took over a year for the trial judge to find an attorney to take Wilson’s case. Wilson was indigent, and the maximum state fee for a capital-murder representation was $2,500. The judge even put a note on his courthouse door, saying: "PLEASE HELP. DESPERATE. THIS CASE CANNOT BE CONTINUED AGAIN." Eventually, two lawyers agreed to take the case: John Foote, who had never tried a felony (much less a capital) case, and William Hagedorn, a semi-retired lawyer who gave as his office number the phone of the local bar, "Kelly's Keg." Hagedon volunteered to be lead counsel for free, even though he had no office, no staff, no copy machine and no law books. According to witnesses, Wilson’s lawyers came and went during trial, and attorney Hagedorn was absent more than half the time. The lawyers failed to interview and subpoena witnesses, investigate evidence collected by police, or contact certain family members who would have testified on behalf of sparing Wilson’s life. Stephen Bright, president of the Southern Center for Human Rights, said that Wilson’s case is a "travesty of justice and among the worst examples he's ever seen of a defendant tried for his life with unqualified counsel."
According to a new report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) entitled, "Slamming the Courthouse Doors: Denial of Access to Justice and Remedy in America," many states severely restrict access to justice for capital defendants and limit the availability of remedies to correct errors. The problem of inadequate counsel continues to pervade death penalty systems across the country: “Few states provide adequate funds to compensate lawyers for their work or to investigate cases properly. In addition to inadequate funding, the majority of death-penalty states lack adequate competency standards. Many states require only minimal training and experience for attorneys handling death penalty cases, and in some cases capital defense attorneys fail to meet the minimum guidelines for capital defense set by the American Bar Association (ABA),” according to the ACLU. The report also states that the absence of a right to counsel in post-conviction appeals leaves capital defendants with few options to address serious errors during their trial. 
A shortage of qualified criminal defense lawyers in California has caused major delays in the state’s capital punishment system. Nearly half of those sentenced to death in California are waiting for the state to appoint them a post-conviction attorney. Death row inmates wait an average of 10-12 years. The long delay is attributed to the lack of experienced lawyers to take on this part of the appeals process. The California Supreme Court requires that lawyers have experience in trial and appellate court. Criminal defense attorneys also attribute the scarcity to inadequate state funding. University of California at Berkeley law professor Elisabeth Semel said that an investigation for post-conviction cases can cost about $250,000, which includes expenses related to expert witnesses and travel. The current state budget for an investigation is $50,000 for an inmate. Some experts believe that the shortage of defense lawyers will only be met when the state expands resources like the Habeas Corpus Resource Center, where lawyers have access to paid investigators and paralegals. California has the largest death row population in the country, with more than 700 inmates.
Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell has signed 113 execution warrants during his two terms in office, yet it appears likely that he will leave office in a few months without seeing any of them carried out. Since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1978, only three men have been executed, all of whom had waived their appeals. Inadequate funding for criminal defense may be one of the primary reasons for this de facto moratorium. Since 1978, state and federal courts have overturned 124 death penalty cases on post-conviction review, mostly because of inadequate representation. (Other reasons cited include prosecutorial misconduct, racial discrimination in jury selection, and improper argument and jury instructions). When the cases are retried, almost all result in a life sentence. Robert Dunham, a federal defender, said, “So long as Pennsylvania systematically fails to adequately provide resources at trial, cases will be reversed [in] post-conviction." Marc Bookman, founder of the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation in Philadelphia, said "an ungodly amount of money" has been spent on the death penalty in the state. "[I]t's an incredible waste of money," he added. "We're propping this thing up so that some of our leaders can claim to be tough on law and order." Pennsylvania has the fourth largest death row in the country.