ONE IN SIX DEATH ROW INMATES DEFENDED AT TRIAL BY LAWYERS DISCIPLINED BY STATE BAR

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2002 Contact: David Mills
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ONE IN SIX DEATH ROW INMATES DEFENDED AT TRIAL BY LAWYERS DISCIPLINED BY STATE BAR

Raleigh----More than one in six current death row inmates was represented at trial by lawyers who have been disciplined by the North Carolina State Bar, according to a new report released today by the Common Sense Foundation, a statewide public policy organization based in Raleigh.

One of the attorneys cited is Douglas Osborne, Jr, of Reidsville, who represented current death row inmate Kenny Neal at his capital trial in 1996. The state appointed Osborne to the case not long after he was released from serving time in federal prison for child pornography charges. Jurors said after the trail that they knew about Osborne's felony conviction and it affected their perception of his arguments.

"There is no way that Kenny Neal received a fair trial," said David Mills, Common Sense Research Director and co-author of the report. "This report makes it clear that this is far from an isolated case, that there are many people facing execution who were also denied basic justice because of the lawyers the state appointed to defend them."

The report includes only attorneys who were formally disciplined, so the numbers do not reflect many cases in which court-appointed attorneys performed poorly. The lawyer for a man executed last year admitted to drinking 12 shots of rum every night during the capital trial. He was not formally disciplined by the Bar.

State officials recently overhauled the way lawyers are appointed to represent indigent clients, confirmation that they too recognize the flaws in the old system---the system under which the 208 current death row inmates were convicted and sentenced.

"Very few lawyers are ever disciplined by the State Bar," said FrancesFerris, Common Sense Policy Intern and co-author of the report. "When an attorney is singled out for punishment this unusual, it has to make you question his or her fitness to represent a capital defendant."

Thirty-five of the inmates currently awaiting execution were represented by disciplined attorneys. Mills says there is only one way for the state torespond to the report:grant new trials for all 35 inmates.

The report is available online at http://www.common-sense.org/Publications/CommonSenseSays/DPSpecialReport2002.html # # #

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