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The Weis Case and Indigent Defense

By Steve Hall

The Saturday edition of the Washington Post carried the editorial, "The crisis in providing legal counsel for poor defendants." IF THE CHARGES are true, Jamie Ryan Weis committed a heinous crime: robbing, beating and shooting to death a woman in Pike County, Ga., in 2006. Mr. Weis has pleaded not guilty to the charges, for which the state is seeking the death penalty. But he has yet to be tried. The reason: delays caused primarily by the state's inability to pay for an attorney for Mr. Weis. In Georgia, a defendant facing possible execution is entitled to two lawyers; the state picks up the tab if the defendant is unable to pay. Mr. Weis was first assigned attorneys from the Georgia public defender's office, which employs full-time, salaried lawyers to represent poor defendants...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on September 27, 2010 (boomark / email).