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New Office to Handle Texas Capital Habeas Filings

By Steve Hall

"State to handle capital appeals," is the title of Lise Olsen's report in the San Antonio Express-News.  It appeared in the Sunday edition.Texas, which executes more convicts than any state in the nation, will open its first capital defense office next year to manage appeals for death row inmates after years of reports that appointed private attorneys repeatedly botched the job.?The status quo has been an international embarrassment,? said state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, who sponsored the law that created the office. It was supported by an unusual alliance between the State Bar of Texas, the Court of Criminal Appeals and public defense advocates, who all backed it in the last legislative session.The law was inspired by a series of stories about Texas inmates who lost crucial appeals after court-appointed attorneys missed deadlines or filed only so-called ?skeletal? writs ? documents with little information often copied from other cases...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on July 27, 2009 (boomark / email).