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Death Penalty Conviction Overturned Due to an Attorney's Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

By Walin & Klarich

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently overturned a defendant?s death penalty finding that his lawyer did not provide effective assistance of counsel. In 1982, in an Arizona state court, Laurence Libberton was convicted of the murder of Juan Maya. The key witness at the trial, Martin Norton, a juvenile also charged in connection with the crime, testified that the Libberton shot Maya. During the penalty phase of the trial, Libberton?s counsel only called two witnesses, and Libberton was subsequently sentenced to death for the murder. On appeal, Libberton presented evidence that was unavailable to him at trial. The appeals court initially ruled that the additional evidence could not be admitted because it was not part of the record at trial...continue to full post

Full post as published by Southern California Criminal Defense Blog on December 04, 2009 (boomark / email).