Reader comments
Death row inmate without attorney

Camotim | 4:34 p.m. July 19, 2008

If I saw this individual coming towards any one I love I would be ready to take him out. I have no pity, and little compassion, for him. However, he, and others sentenced to the death penalty in the US, have the right to counsel on their appeal and publicly funded counsel if they are indigent. That is a right afforded all persons appealing from felony convictions, capital or non-capital.

The Utah law mentioned requiring indigents upon whom the death penalty is imposed to go pro se if counsel cant be found in 60 days or have their appeal dismissed is one of the most egreious violations of the 14th Amendment which I have ever seen.

Yes, after this appeal is dismissed this case can get into the federal system. The first thing the federal court is going to do is send the case back to the Utah Supreme Court with directions to appoint an attorney for the inmate and hear the appeal as it should have in the first place.

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