For over 25 years, the ABA Death Penalty Representation Project has existed to address the crisis of counsel facing death row prisoners. Please join us and our host federal judges on May 18, 2012 for a discussion about recent developments regarding counsel issues in death penalty cases.
During the current term, the United States Supreme Court has issued several opinions reaffirming the vital role played by counsel at every stage of a criminal case, yet the Court has stopped short of finding a constitutional right to effective representation in post-conviction proceedings. Virtually all death row prisoners are indigent, and budgets for state-appointed post-conviction counsel are extraordinarily limited or, in some situations, non-existent. As a result, volunteer attorneys from the private bar often represent the only hope for defendants facing the death penalty to raise meritorious claims challenging their convictions and sentences.
Join us on May 18th to hear from federal judges about these recent cases and their implications for capital representation. You can RSVP for this event by submitting the short form on this page or by contacting the Project at 202-662-1738.