Post by CCADP on Apr 16, 2006 14:54:29 GMT -5
Death penalty cases flooding S.C.: Lexington County, with 10 pending trials, to start jury selection today to resolve 2002.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2006 The State
Byline: Adam Beam
Apr. 10--Twelve death penalty cases are awaiting trial in the 11th Circuit -- 10 of them in Lexington County. As many as five trials -- including two in Edgefield County -- could be heard this year. Edgefield County hasn't tried a death penalty case since 1993; Lexington County since 2003. "If you do three in a year, you're doing one every 120 days," 11th Circuit Deputy Solicitor Dayton Riddle said. "That's a brutal year." And it begins today, with jury selection in Lexington County's first death penalty trial in three years. Richland County, in the 5th Circuit, has four pendingdeath penalty trials, with the first scheduled for July 16, according to court records.Death penalty cases are the most complex and expensive in criminal court. If jurors are sequestered, renting hotels rooms and feeding them can cost taxpayers up to $100,000 per case, said Beth Carrigg, Lexington County clerk of court. Seven of the 10 Lexington County cases are retrials after convictions or sentences were overturned by the state Supreme Court. One defendant, Raymond Patterson, has been tried and sentenced to death three times for the same murder, the 1984 slaying of a West Virginia man. Five people have been executed from Lexington County since 1985. Ten people are on Death Row from the 11th Circuit.
Along with paying for the prosecution, taxpayers often end up paying for the defense. Patton Adams, director of the state Indigent Defense Commission, said about 85 percent of all defendants in criminal court are indigent. The commission, which operates from state money, has paid $1.4 million on its 15 pending capital cases statewide, Adams said. The most expensive case costs $244,000, with about $178,000 going to attorney fees. The difference between "trying a murder and trying a death penalty case is about the same as putting a Band-Aid on a cut and doing neurosurgery," said Columbia defense attorney Bill Nettles, who has tried seven capital cases. In the Lexington trial that starts today, Kevin Mercer, 28, is charged with murder in connection with the 2002 shooting death of 35-year-old Tracy Lamar Davis, who was an Army sergeant stationed at Fort Jackson. Eleventh Circuit Solicitor Donnie Myers' office plans to try three to five death penalty cases this year, including the Edgefield cases, Riddle said. Myers was unavailable for comment for this story because of the April 3 death of his wife. Two of the cases have been assigned to other solicitors because of a conflict of interest in Myers' office. Those cases will be tried in Lexington County but handled by another prosecutor. Each trial can take up to three weeks, including jury selection, the guilt phase and the penalty phase. In a death penalty trial, a jury, not a judge, decides the sentence. For the Mercer trial, Carrigg said the county sent about 350 summons to potential jurors -- twice as many as normal. Most death penalty juries are sequestered, and the clerk of court's office is responsible for providing jurors food, hotel accommodations and entertainment. For example, Lexington County began preparing for the Mercer trial eight weeks ago, Carrigg said. Seven SLED agents will stay with the jurors at all times. "It's more than we would like for it to be," Carrigg said about the number ofdeath penalty cases in Lexington County. "If we could try three a year, that takes four years to get rid of those 12 cases. And in the meantime, they are just sitting in jail, and the citizens are footing the bill."
Mercer has complained many times about how long it has taken his case to come to trial. In a letter dated Aug. 2, 2005, to 11th Circuit Judge William Keesley, Mercer wrote, "either my case get called up for court or I ask the courts to set me a bond, so that I can go home to my family!" Delays have been an issue in the case of Gene Tony Cooper, who was sentenced to death in 1991. In 1994, the state Supreme Court reversed the sentence, ruling that the judge should have allowed Cooper to speak to the jury during the guilt phase of his trial.
In August 2002, the court also reversed Cooper's conviction on the non-capital charges of armed robbery and conspiracy and ordered a new trial. His capital murder conviction still stands. First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe will try the case in May. Cooper is represented by David Bruck, director of the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse and a longtime foe of Myers in capital cases. Bruck has repeatedly filed motions to dismiss the charges against Cooper, claiming Myers violated Cooper's constitutional right to a speedy trial. In South Carolina, prosecutors, not judges, control the court docket in criminal court. Court documents show that in 2004, Myers said during a hearing that he would try Cooper's case in the spring of that year. In April 2005, Judge William Keesley ordered that the case be heard before the end of the year. Three months later, Myers recused himself from the case because one of his deputy solicitors, Rick Hubbard, was the law clerk to the trial judge during Cooper's first case. Bruck again asked Keesley to dismiss the charges and requested the trial begin before classes started at Washington and Lee University law school, where Bruck teaches. Keesley denied the motion, citing at least eight pending death penalty cases that were competing for scheduling.
He ruled that while the court has "frequently expressed its deep concern about the length of time that people accused of crimes are being required to sit in jail (in this case on Death Row) awaiting trial ... there are many reasons for this situation, including the explosive growth of this county." Death penalty cases can face delays at all stages, Riddle said, including the clerk of court's office assembling a jury pool, the solicitor's office not having enough people to process the cases, and defense attorneys with scheduling conflicts.
"There's a different number of bottlenecks that you can hit."
Reach Beam at (803) 771-8405.
Copyright (c) 2006, The State, Columbia, S.C.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2006 The State
Byline: Adam Beam
Apr. 10--Twelve death penalty cases are awaiting trial in the 11th Circuit -- 10 of them in Lexington County. As many as five trials -- including two in Edgefield County -- could be heard this year. Edgefield County hasn't tried a death penalty case since 1993; Lexington County since 2003. "If you do three in a year, you're doing one every 120 days," 11th Circuit Deputy Solicitor Dayton Riddle said. "That's a brutal year." And it begins today, with jury selection in Lexington County's first death penalty trial in three years. Richland County, in the 5th Circuit, has four pendingdeath penalty trials, with the first scheduled for July 16, according to court records.Death penalty cases are the most complex and expensive in criminal court. If jurors are sequestered, renting hotels rooms and feeding them can cost taxpayers up to $100,000 per case, said Beth Carrigg, Lexington County clerk of court. Seven of the 10 Lexington County cases are retrials after convictions or sentences were overturned by the state Supreme Court. One defendant, Raymond Patterson, has been tried and sentenced to death three times for the same murder, the 1984 slaying of a West Virginia man. Five people have been executed from Lexington County since 1985. Ten people are on Death Row from the 11th Circuit.
Along with paying for the prosecution, taxpayers often end up paying for the defense. Patton Adams, director of the state Indigent Defense Commission, said about 85 percent of all defendants in criminal court are indigent. The commission, which operates from state money, has paid $1.4 million on its 15 pending capital cases statewide, Adams said. The most expensive case costs $244,000, with about $178,000 going to attorney fees. The difference between "trying a murder and trying a death penalty case is about the same as putting a Band-Aid on a cut and doing neurosurgery," said Columbia defense attorney Bill Nettles, who has tried seven capital cases. In the Lexington trial that starts today, Kevin Mercer, 28, is charged with murder in connection with the 2002 shooting death of 35-year-old Tracy Lamar Davis, who was an Army sergeant stationed at Fort Jackson. Eleventh Circuit Solicitor Donnie Myers' office plans to try three to five death penalty cases this year, including the Edgefield cases, Riddle said. Myers was unavailable for comment for this story because of the April 3 death of his wife. Two of the cases have been assigned to other solicitors because of a conflict of interest in Myers' office. Those cases will be tried in Lexington County but handled by another prosecutor. Each trial can take up to three weeks, including jury selection, the guilt phase and the penalty phase. In a death penalty trial, a jury, not a judge, decides the sentence. For the Mercer trial, Carrigg said the county sent about 350 summons to potential jurors -- twice as many as normal. Most death penalty juries are sequestered, and the clerk of court's office is responsible for providing jurors food, hotel accommodations and entertainment. For example, Lexington County began preparing for the Mercer trial eight weeks ago, Carrigg said. Seven SLED agents will stay with the jurors at all times. "It's more than we would like for it to be," Carrigg said about the number ofdeath penalty cases in Lexington County. "If we could try three a year, that takes four years to get rid of those 12 cases. And in the meantime, they are just sitting in jail, and the citizens are footing the bill."
Mercer has complained many times about how long it has taken his case to come to trial. In a letter dated Aug. 2, 2005, to 11th Circuit Judge William Keesley, Mercer wrote, "either my case get called up for court or I ask the courts to set me a bond, so that I can go home to my family!" Delays have been an issue in the case of Gene Tony Cooper, who was sentenced to death in 1991. In 1994, the state Supreme Court reversed the sentence, ruling that the judge should have allowed Cooper to speak to the jury during the guilt phase of his trial.
In August 2002, the court also reversed Cooper's conviction on the non-capital charges of armed robbery and conspiracy and ordered a new trial. His capital murder conviction still stands. First Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe will try the case in May. Cooper is represented by David Bruck, director of the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse and a longtime foe of Myers in capital cases. Bruck has repeatedly filed motions to dismiss the charges against Cooper, claiming Myers violated Cooper's constitutional right to a speedy trial. In South Carolina, prosecutors, not judges, control the court docket in criminal court. Court documents show that in 2004, Myers said during a hearing that he would try Cooper's case in the spring of that year. In April 2005, Judge William Keesley ordered that the case be heard before the end of the year. Three months later, Myers recused himself from the case because one of his deputy solicitors, Rick Hubbard, was the law clerk to the trial judge during Cooper's first case. Bruck again asked Keesley to dismiss the charges and requested the trial begin before classes started at Washington and Lee University law school, where Bruck teaches. Keesley denied the motion, citing at least eight pending death penalty cases that were competing for scheduling.
He ruled that while the court has "frequently expressed its deep concern about the length of time that people accused of crimes are being required to sit in jail (in this case on Death Row) awaiting trial ... there are many reasons for this situation, including the explosive growth of this county." Death penalty cases can face delays at all stages, Riddle said, including the clerk of court's office assembling a jury pool, the solicitor's office not having enough people to process the cases, and defense attorneys with scheduling conflicts.
"There's a different number of bottlenecks that you can hit."
Reach Beam at (803) 771-8405.
Copyright (c) 2006, The State, Columbia, S.C.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.