Legal Commentary

Soldiers Facing Death Need Experienced Lawyers

By TChris

You'd think military prosecutors would want to get it right the second time.

The Army is trying [Army Sgt. William] Kreutzer for the second time on capital murder, attempted murder and other charges stemming from an October 1995 shooting spree in which Kreutzer opened fire on a brigade of soldiers as they prepared for an early morning run. ... Kreutzer was sentenced to death at a court-martial in 1996, but he won a new trial after military appeals courts ruled in 2004 and 2005 that his first lawyers were incompetent.

Kreutzer's new lawyers have no experience defending the death phase of a trial. They've asked the court "to appoint qualified lawyers or make the case non-capital." Prosecutors responded that the lawyers are good enough. Are they inviting a repeat performance of the first appeal? [more ...]

Kreutzer’s current lawyers, Maj. Eric Carpenter and Maj. Greg Malson, argued Tuesday that they aren’t qualified, either. They took some legal classes on the death penalty but have no other experience in the subject, or with non-capital murder cases, Carpenter said.

Kevin McNally, director of the Federal Death Penalty Resource Council, testified that Malson and Carpenter are unqualified to serve in a civilian federal death penalty trial. Due to the complexity and high stakes of death penalty cases, civilian courts generally require the lead defense lawyer, and sometimes the second lawyer, to have a background in capital trials.

“A terrorist facing a death sentence in a federal District Court will get experienced capital attorneys, but a service member facing the death sentence in a court-martial will not,” Carpenter said.

The judge, Col. Patrick Parrish, has not yet ruled on the motion.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on June 25, 2008 (boomark / email).