JAMIE RYAN WEIS CHALLENGES FAILURE OF GEORGIA TO PROVIDE COUNSEL IN CAPITAL CASE

Lawyers for Jamie Ryan Weis argued before the Georgia Supreme Court that his case should be dismissed or that the State should be prohibited from seeking the death penalty due to the failure of the state to provide him with counsel. Weis is charged with the 2006 murder of a Pike County woman during a burglary.

Like many defendants charged with capital offenses in Georgia Weis has gone without counsel for a lengthy periods of time since the state’s budget does not provide sufficient funds to pay for counsel the approximately seventy people facing capital charges in the state. Under the Sixth Amendment the state has a duty to provide indigent defendants with counsel in criminal cases. But for two years he sat in jail while the state did not have the funds to provide him with counsel.

Very few government expenses are constitutionally mandated but under the Gideon case government is required to provide counsel for indigent defendants. This becomes a difficult task with limited budgets in this recession.

But the problems in Georgia go beyond the recession. Legislators have failed to live up to their constitutional duty to fund indigent defense. Part of this is a result of the Brian Nichols trial. Nichols, while on trial for rape escaped and killed the judge, court reporter, sheriff’s deputy and a Federal Agent. The cost for his murder trial was approximately two million dollars. Legislators revolted against the high cost. But the constitutional duty is not only to provide counsel for those charged with a crime but to provide competent counsel. And lawyers have a duty to zealously represent their clients. This costs money for investigative expenses and expert witnesses. Capital cases are particularly expensive and as long as we have capital punishment the cost are going to continue to grow.