STUDY: FREE LEGAL COUNSEL IN CRISIS

Panel Of Lawyers Says Faulty Convictions Are Rampant, Urges Funding

WASHINGTON - Thousands of suspects unable to afford lawyers are wrongly
convicted each year because they are pressured to accept guilty pleas or
have incompetent attorneys, the American Bar Association says in a report.

The study by a committee of the nation's largest lawyers group says that
legal representation of indigents is in "a state of crisis." These
defendants are at constant risk of wrongful conviction and unjust
punishment, including the death penalty, according to the study being
released today.

"The fundamental right to a lawyer that Americans assume apply to everyone
accused of criminal conduct effectively does not exist in practice for
countless people across the United States," the study states. "All too
often, defendants plead guilty, even if they are innocent, without really
understanding their legal rights."

The ABA committee wants Congress and local governments to spend more money
and create oversight groups to guard against shoddy legal representation.
Judges also are asked to be more vigilant in ensuring that defendants have
competent counsel.

It has been more than 40 years since the Supreme Court ruled that the
government must provide legal counsel to indigent defendants charged with
serious crimes.

The report comes one week after President Bush called for more training for
lawyers who represent murder suspects and greater use of DNA testing. That
proposal is not on the agenda at the ABA winter meeting in Salt Lake City,
which runs through Tuesday.

The ABA study points to people such as Brandon Moon of Kansas City, Mo.,
who served nearly 17 years for the rape of an El Paso woman before DNA
tests determined that he was not responsible; and Ryan Matthews, a
Louisiana man who sat on death row for five years before he was exonerated.

More than 150 people who were convicted in 31 states and the District of
Columbia served a total of 1,800 years in prison for crimes they did not
commit. All were exonerated by DNA evidence.

"The challenge is coming up with politically viable ways to fix the
problem," said Douglas Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University who
tracks death penalty cases. "The long-term costs of underfunding defense
counsel are hard to see when a state is facing budget crises."

The report also pointed to negligent or otherwise unprepared lawyers,
leading to faulty convictions or more serious punishment. No formal
training existed for lawyers for the indigent in Louisiana, Montana,
Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas, which executes more
people than any other state.