A federal court has ordered a new sentencing hearing for Robert Marshall after determining that his trial attorney failed to adequately represent him at his 1986 trial. In its ruling, the court noted: “This is not a case where, after reasonable investigation, Zeitz (the attorney) determined that it was tactically a better choice not to put on a mitigating case. Rather, it is a situation where Zeitz inadequately prepared for the penalty phase and put on no mitigating evidence because he had none to present.” (Emphasis added). Marshall, who has been on death row for 18 years, must be resentenced and has been removed from New Jersey’s death row. Additional problems with inadequate defense, the lethal injection process, and other concerns about the state’s capital punishment system continue to surface. Celeste Fitzgerald, executive director of New Jerseyans for a Death Penalty Moratorium, stated that Marshall’s case is “another example of how the capital punishment system is broken, how it’s impossible to write a set of rules to implement the death penalty in a way that ensures swift, fair and accurate justice.” She added, “The death penalty hasn’t worked in New Jersey. These cases go on and on – because a life is at stake and everyone agrees we need to be cautious. Many states don’t have the death penalty, and I think it’s time to follow that lead and implement a policy of life imprisonment without possibility of parole.” (The Star-Ledger, April 8, 2004) See Life Without Parole and Representation.