About the Committee

The U.S. Constitution & the Supreme Court Standards for Organizing Defense Services & Client Representation Professional Duty of Lawyers Representing the Indigent Ineffective Assistance of Counsel: The Difficulty of Correcting Mistakes Conviction of the Innocent and the Importance of Counsel

Ch. 2: Indigent Defense Today

The Need for Reform is Decades Old Insufficient Funding The Burden of Too Much Work Other Impediments to Competent and Effective Defense Services

Ch. 3: How to Achieve Reform - Use of Litigation

Legal Theories Underlying Litigation Litigation Options: When and How Cases Are Presented Judiciary’s Authority to Provide Relief Lessons Learned from Prior Litigation

Ch. 4: How to Achieve Reform - Legislation

Legislative Background of State Oversight Commissions State Oversight Commissions Study Commissions

Ch. 5: Recommendations & Commentary

Introduction What States Should Do What the Federal Government Should Do What Individuals, Criminal Justice Agencies, and Bar Associations Should Do

Appendices

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About the Committee

The National Right to Counsel Committee is a bipartisan committee of independent experts representing all segments of America's justice system. The Committee was established in 2004 to examine the ability of state courts to provide adequate counsel, as required by the United States Constitution, to individuals charged in criminal and juvenile delinquency cases who are unable to afford lawyers.

The members of the Committee are:

Honorary Co-Chairs

Walter F. Mondale, Senior Counsel, Dorsey & Whitney LLP; Vice President of the United States, 1977-1981; United States Senator (D-MN), 1964-1977; former Minnesota Attorney General who organized the amicus brief of 23 states in support of Clarence Earl Gideon in Gideon v. Wainwright

William S. Sessions, Partner, Holland & Knight LLP; Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1987-1993; Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, 1974-1987, Chief Judge, 1980-1987; United States Attorney, Western District of Texas, 1971-1974

Co-Chairs

Rhoda Billings, Professor Emeritus, Wake Forest University School of Law; Justice, North Carolina Supreme Court, 1985-1986, Chief Justice, 1986; Judge, State District Court, 1968-1972

Robert M. A. Johnson, District Attorney, Anoka County, Minnesota; former President, National District Attorneys Association; former Chair, American Bar Association Section of Criminal Justice

Timothy K. Lewis, Co-Chair, Appellate Practice Group, Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP; Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1992-1999; Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, 1991-1992; former Assistant United States Attorney, Western District of Pennsylvania; former Assistant District Attorney, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

Members

Shawn Armbrust, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project; as a member of the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism was instrumental in achieving the 1999 death row exoneration of Illinois inmate Anthony Porter

Jay W. Burnett, Former Judge, 351st Criminal District Court, Harris County Texas, appointed 1984; Judge, 183rd Criminal District Court, Harris County, Texas, 1986-1998; Visiting Criminal District Judge, 2nd Judicial Administrative Region of Texas,1999-2000

Alan J. Crotzer, Probation and Community Intervention Officer, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice; wrongfully convicted and sentenced to 130 years in prison; served 24.5 years in prison; exonerated based on DNA evidence in 2006

Tony Fabelo, Director of Research, Justice Center of the Council of State Governments; former Senior Associate, The JFA Institute; former Executive Director, Texas Criminal Justice Policy Council, 1991-2003

Norman S. Fletcher, Of Counsel, Brinson, Askew, Berry, Seigler, Richardson & Davis LLP; Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia, 1989-2005, Chief Justice, 2001-2005

Monroe H. Freedman, Professor of Law and former Dean, Hofstra University School of Law; nationally-acclaimed scholar of lawyers' ethics

Susan Herman, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Pace University; former Executive Director, National Center for Victims of Crime

Bruce R. Jacob, Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law, Stetson University College of Law; former Assistant Attorney General for the State of Florida, represented Florida in Gideon v. Wainwright

Abe Krash, Retired Partner, Arnold & Porter LLP; former Visiting Lecturer, Yale Law School; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center; represented Clarence Earl Gideon in Gideon v. Wainwright

Norman Lefstein, Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus, Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis (served as one of the Committee's Reporters)

Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Jesse Climenko Professor of Law; Executive Director, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, Harvard Law School

Bryan A. Stevenson, Director, Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama; Professor of Clinical Law, New York University School of Law

Larry D. Thompson, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, General Counsel and Secretary, PepsiCo, Inc.; Deputy Attorney General of the United States, 2001-2003; former United States Attorney, Northern District of Georgia

Hubert Williams, President, Police Foundation; former New Jersey Police Director; former Special Advisor to the Los Angeles Police Commission