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Jeffrey Toobin on the Brian Nichols Case

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Friday, highlighting a post on Of Counsel, I noted that many are following the Nichols case in Georgia to see its impact on indigent defense issues beyond Georgia.  In the February 4 issue of the New Yorker, Jeffrey Toobin examines the case in Death in Georgia.  LINKThe Nichols case illustrates a troubling paradox in death-penalty jurisprudence: the more heinous a crime?and the more incontrovertible the evidence of a defendant?s guilt?the greater the cost of the defense may be. Death-penalty trials require juries not only to determine whether the defendant is guilty but also to make other complex moral judgments?why a defendant committed a crime, whether he is likely to do so again, what punishment fits the crime. Defendants are entitled to often costly expert assistance, including the services of psychiatrists, as they prepare their cases...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on January 28, 2008 (boomark / email).