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Seasoned defense lawyers know the value of the small gesture. And the large. Anticipating the guilty verdict returned by the jury two weeks ago, Windham built a parallel argument that White was not guilty by reason of insanity. If the jury agrees, White will be locked up in a hospital instead of being imprisoned.
ASSIGNED ATTORNEYS: NO EXPERIENCE
In smaller cities, defendants are usually assigned attorneys by the court. Often these lawyers, who tend to be young and inexperienced or old and tired, receive only $20 to $25 an hour. Capital cases go for as little as $400. At Detroit's Recorder's Court, lawyers are paid a flat fee: $1,400 for first- degree murder, $750 for lesser offenses that carry up to a life sentence. "The more time you spend on a case, the less money you make," says attorney David Steingold, a 14-year veteran. Hence lawyers have learned to plead cases quickly and forgo time-consuming motions, a phenomenon known among lawyers as the "plea mill."
Slapdash pleas are sometimes less brutal than the farcical trials that can result when ill-prepared lawyers are thrown in over their heads. In 1983 a man named Victor Roberts and an accomplice stole a car and drove to an Atlanta suburb hunting for a house to burglarize. Posing as insurance salesmen, they entered the home of Mary Jo Jenkins. A skirmish ensued and a gun went off, shooting Jenkins through the heart. H. Geoffrey Slade, a lawyer for 13 years, was assigned to handle the capital case. When he realized he was in over his head and requested co-counsel, the court appointed Jim Hamilton, 75, who had almost no criminal experience.
Their efforts, while well intended, served no one's interests. They conducted no investigation. They interviewed no witnesses in person. They never visited the crime scene. During the trial they introduced no evidence in Roberts' defense. The prosecution, meanwhile, trotted out gory photographs of Jenkins -- taken after she had been autopsied. Slade knew enough to object, but he was overruled. The jury deliberated only 45 minutes; Roberts found himself on death row. A federal judge subsequently ordered a new trial, on the ground that the first had been "fundamentally unfair," in part because Roberts' lawyers had failed to "adequately and effectively investigate" the crime. Pretrial proceedings are scheduled to get under way this month -- 10 years after Roberts' arrest.
CONTRACT LAWYERS: NO SATISFACTION
A variation on court-appointed attorneys, popular in rural areas, is a contract system under which lawyers receive a flat rate. The fee is usually so meager that these attorneys maintain a private practice on the side. Such a system, says Bright, results in "lawyers who view their responsibilities as unwanted burdens, have no inclination to help the client and have no incentive to learn or to develop criminal trial skills." When expenses mount, they economize by refusing the collect calls of their jailed clients. Under a contract system, says L.A.'s Tennenbaum, "you don't investigate, you don't ask for continuances, you plead at the earliest possible moment."