tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post6463983640690929987..comments2024-01-25T14:51:13.377-05:00Comments on Gamso - For the Defense: Gambling Is His GameJeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-33517488105513188292013-12-15T21:28:11.387-05:002013-12-15T21:28:11.387-05:00Almost anything beats going with unqualified retai...Almost anything beats going with unqualified retained counsel. I trust Bennett (and Bunin) to know the Texas landscape today when they tell me that his appointed counsel would be competent and would have adequate resources. Even incompetent retained counsel can take advantage of the Capital Assistance Attorneys in Texas.<br /><br />I'm all for standards and qualifications, I'd just like to see them work better than they do. And at least in my part of the country, indigent appointed counsel typically have to fight for more than bare minimum resources. I was co-counsel at trial in a case where the judge assured us we'd get what we need. She authorized $2,500 for a psychologist, told us to come back if we needed more. The case settled. The psychologist billed something like $1,800. She refused to pay much of that since it included his travel time from Cleveland to Toledo to meet with the client.<br /><br />There's ongoing litigation over whether the judge in another case was obligated to approve payments he'd authorized to experts. Money makes a huge difference in these cases, but appointments - even of competent lawyers who are willing to do the work - don't always get what they need. And they're grotesquely underpaid.<br /><br />None of which has anything to do with Messers Lewis and Maverick. Lewis should get indigent counsel for many reasons - resources being only one of them. And Maverick should bow out. Jeff Gamsohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-35077908435703887902013-12-15T20:29:59.846-05:002013-12-15T20:29:59.846-05:00Alex Bunin made the incisive point that this is on...Alex Bunin made the incisive point that this is one of those instances where market forces tend to serve a greater (and unintended) goal of putting death cases in competent hands. finances may not be the right reason to go with death qualified indigent counsel, but it beats going with unqualified retained counsel.shghttp://blog.simplejustice.usnoreply@blogger.com