On the same day Donald Gates was released from prison after DNA exonerated him (28 years too late), the Southern Center for Human Rights filed suit against the State for “its failure to provide counsel for nearly 200 convicted indigent defendants who do not have lawyers to represent them in their appeals.”
“The Constitution and state law require that indigent defendants in Georgia be provided with counsel at every critical stage of a criminal prosecution, including the motion for new trial and direct appeal. Appeals are a critical safeguard to ensure that convictions are constitutional and the right to counsel is no less important on appeal than it is at trial. It is inexcusable for some of our plaintiffs to have been incarcerated for years without counsel when the law could not be clearer,” said Lauren Sudeall Lucas, staff attorney at SCHR. “The Constitution has to be a line item in the State’s budget.”
For those who think post-conviction appeals aren’t important, tell that to Donald Gates.
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