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U.S. Death Penalty Cases Rise; Ohio Defenders Hire Specialists

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source: Crime & Justice News

"Ohio's two federal public defenders, in Cleveland and

Columbus, both are hiring lawyers who will specialize

in death penalty cases, reports the Cleveland Plain

Dealer. For defendants, it might mean more

competent aid from lawyers who better know the U.S.

court system. For the federal government, the tab for

indigent clients may get cheaper. For the state public

defender and some private attorneys, it probably

means less work. Later this year, when each district

has established its Capital Habeas Unit, the districts

will be among just 17 of the U.S. court system's 89

districts with public defenders dedicated to handling

death penalty cases.

There are 55 people on federal death row. The federal

government had stopped seeking the death penalty

until 1988's drug kingpin statute, used for murders

committed during illegal drug operations. In 1994,

Congress expanded the list of death penalty-eligible

crimes to include more than 60 other offenses -

including murder-for-hire. Since then, the number of

cases in which the U.S. attorney general has sought

capital punishment is on the rise."

Cleveland Plain Dealer - http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=0010jZAlY2dl4HvQLkjvahfwvMRqGIyi7HBVlzJjc_BluOeBVruGs41hLkD0QfV_ffigU6j3UlHmSoRfYfbWKn8p0bfaGjcHpEvCZLgQBL3l-v7isplFSQrt2PBb2NUVURT5OK7ZJlwkWOUaiXp12bOpQBGc-9budKvXurwcEVSr-SPWReFq7hdHsjXTDMIxkRDhHxmi58x-M8_shIp-1m7WyyL_G4gp6JS

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on February 06, 2008 (boomark / email).