Pretend Justice – Defense Representation in Tennessee Death Penalty Cases, an article published in The University of Memphis Law Review, documents the systemic failure of Tennessee to provide effective representation to indigent defendants in capital cases. Tennessee’s failure to provide competent representation results in bad lawyering and a system that is unfair and unjust.
Virtually all capital defendants in Tennessee are indigent and must depend on the same government that seeks to execute them to also provide their defense representation. Most capital defendants are represented by overworked public defenders or appointed private counsels who lack the knowledge and resources to mount an effective defense.
Twenty-five Tennessee death penalty convictions or sentences have been overturned for due to bad lawyering, which is only a small percentage of the capital cases where inadequate defense representation has been provided. In addition, Gov. Phil Bredesen commuted the death sentence of Michael Joe Boyd in 2007 after finding that his appellate representation was “grossly inadequate.”
Pretend Justice – Defense Representation in Tennessee Death Penalty Cases
