Defending the Life or Death Case

Andrea D. Lyon, DePaul University

Abstract

Over thirteen years ago I wrote an article about defending a death penalty case ("Defending the Death Penalty Case: What Makes Death Different?" Mercer Law Review, Volume 42, Number 2, Winter 1991). The article was written in part to describe what is involved in taking on an endeavor of this magnitude and in part as an exhortation to my brothers and sisters defending these cases to work hard for their clients. Then, late in 2004, the United States Supreme Court relied on that same article as part of its reasoning to deny relief to a death row inmate whose defense attorney had conceded his guilt at trial without his permission. (Florida v. Nixon, – U.S. –, 125 S. Ct. 551, 562 (2004)). In many ways, this is endemic of what it means to represent someone charged with a capital crime—things get turned upside down