Ineffective legal representation may be partially responsible for at least 6 men sitting on death row in Texas.
On Monday the US Supreme Court ordered 6 death row cases back to a lower court for review. They have ordered the courts to determine “whether attorneys in earlier stages of appeals let the men down.”
Last week the justices ruled, in a 5-4 vote, that 38-year-old convicted murderer Carlos Trevino had been given “deficient legal help early because appeals lawyers didn’t raise challenges that his trial lawyers were ineffective.” The decision to send the other 6 cases to the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals is consistent with the ruling in the Trevino case.
Trevino’s attorneys argued to the US Supreme Court that:
His trial lawyers were deficient for not investigating evidence of a horrific childhood that could have swayed the Bexar County jury to give him life in prison rather. Then, lawyers in the initial stages of his appeal were equally deficient for not raising the claim that the trial lawyers were ineffective.
In response, state attorneys argued that:
Texas law provided ways to accommodate the challenges and that the appeal was without merit.
However, the high court disagreed and ruled in favor of Trevino, setting the precedent for the other 6 cases to be sent for review as well.