Death Penalty

Welcome!
Hosted by the ABA Death Penalty Representation Project, this practice area contains a password-protected online library of legal materials, as well as other information useful to lawyers for individuals facing a death sentence or who are currently sitting on Death Row.The practice area was developed through the generosity of The Open Society Institute and the law firm of Shearman & Sterling.

Please join this practice area if you are currently representing a client on death row or facing the death penalty at trial.

If you are not a lawyer or not currently representing a person facing a death sentence or on Death Row:
Please feel free to peruse the areas of the site that are non-password protected: the calendar, news, descriptions of states with greatest need, and the other links on this page.

Pro Bono Opportunities for Lawyers:
The need for pro bono firms continues to grow. Dozens of persons on death rows throughout the country are without counsel. Many more have been appointed attorneys who lack the training, experience or resources to provide effective representation. While each individual has the right to seek post-conviction relief of his conviction and sentence, there is no federal constitutional guarantee that a lawyer be appointed in state proceedings. State post-conviction proceedings are often the first real opportunity for prisoners to establish their innocence or demonstrate constitutional errors that infected the capital trial.

If you are an attorney and you are interested in representing a prisoner on death row, or would like additional information, please contact us at:

ABA Death Penalty Representation Project
740 15th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 662-1738
Fax: (202) 662-8649

Robin M. Maher, Esq.
Director
maherr@staff.abanet.org

Emily Williams, Esq.
Staff Attorney
williame@staff.abanet.org

David Grossman, Esq.
Staff Attorney
grossmand@staff.abanet.org

Katie Hughes
Project Assistant
hughesk@staff.abanet.org

About Us:The Project was established by the American Bar Association to inform the bar and the public about the lack of representation available to death row inmates. We address the urgent need for counsel by recruiting volunteer lawyers and offering them training and support. We seek to promote systemic change that will guarantee that all those facing execution are represented at every stage of the proceedings by qualified, adequately compensated counsel. The Project does not take a position on the death penalty itself; rather, our goal is to ensure that basic constitutional protections have been provided to all those sentenced to death.

Current Caseload. Since 1998, the Project has placed close to 200 capital post-conviction cases with private law firms across the country. An updatedlist of recruited law firms appears on the Resources page. These cases generally involve representation of an individual in state and/or federal habeas corpus proceedings. Additionally, the Project has recruited 42 lawyers and law firms to work on such issues as cert. petitions, ABA Supreme Court amicus briefs, clemency petitions, and other matters. As a result of federal legislation during the past several years, it is more important than ever to secure qualified counsel at the state post-conviction stage. Many of the participants in this practice area come from the country's most prestigious law firms and have a long-standing commitment to due process and fundamental fairness.

Practice Area Host:

ABA Death Penalty Representation Project

PROJECT PRESS Newsletter:

The Summer Project Press Newsletter was recently published. To view this publication, please click here. If you would like to be added to our E-Newsletter mailing list, please fill out and submit this short form.

Award Nominations Now Being Accepted for the Project's 23rd Anniversary & Volunteer Recognition Event - DEADLINE EXTENDED TO AUG.7:

This year the Project will celebrate its dedicated volunteers at its annual event in Atlanta on September 24, 2009 at the Woodruff Arts Center. Volunteer firms are nominated by their colleagues for exceptional service to prisoners on Death Row and honored with our award. Previous award honorees have included WilmerHale LLP, Mayer Brown LLP, Sidley Austin LLP, Covington & Burling LLP, Jenner & Block LLP, King & Spalding LLP, Skadden Arps LLP, Kaye Scholer LLP, and Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP. To be eligible for the award, we must receive a completed Application and a Letter of Nomination for each nominee by August 7, 2009. To access nomination materials, please go here. Please email Katie Hughes at hughesk@staff.abanet.org for additional information. Eight (8) copies of each nomination and supporting documents must be completed and returned (by mail) by August 7, 2009.

PROJECT PRESS Newsletter:

The Spring Project Press Newsletter was recently published. To view this publication, please click here. If you would like to be added to our E-Newsletter mailing list, please contact us at deathpenaltyproject@staff.abanet.org.

Click here for current news alerts and recent studies and reports on capital punishment.

Click here to access both the 1989 and 2003 ABA Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases.

To view/download a list of court cases which cite to the ABA Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases, click here

To view/download brief summaries of cases citing the ABA Guidelines, click here

Photo credit: "Glen McGinnis. On his twenty-first birthday" by Ken Light. All copyrights reserved by Mr. Light. Glen McGinnis, who was 17 years old at the time of the crime, was put to death by the State of Texas on Jan. 25, 2000. He was the 205th individual executed in Texas since the reinstatement of the death penalty. Glen was represented by a pro bono firm in post-conviction proceedings. The ABA, which has a long-standing policy against the execution of those who were under 18 at the time of the offense, called for a grant of clemency.

Your tax-deductible financial contributions help provide the Project with the resources we need to work toward equal justice for all. THANK YOU for your support!

Send contributions to
ABA Death Penalty Representation Project
740 15th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005