Weis v. State

Inadequate or delayed defense counsel funding from the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council did not result in presumed prejudice to the defendant, since the funding deficiency showed neither an intentional nor an egregious delay on the state's part

Thank you for sharing!

Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

In this death penalty case, Jamie Ryan Weis appeals from the denial of his motion for discharge and acquittal based on an alleged violation of his constitutional rights to counsel and a speedy trial. As explained more fully below, because the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying Weis’ motion, we affirm. The record reveals that Weis was arrested on February 2, 2006 for the robbery, beating, and shooting death of Catherine King, a senior citizen. Weis has never retained counsel at his own expense. The trial court originally appointed lawyers from the Griffin Judicial Circuit Public Defender’s Office to represent him. Several months later, however, attorneys Robert H. Citronberg and Thomas M. West were appointed to represent Weis pursuant to an agreement with the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council the “Standards Council”, and these attorneys entered an appearance on Weis’ behalf on October 12, 2006.

During the first six months of their representation of Weis, Citronberg and West were being paid, and they filed several motions on Weis’ behalf and conducted an investigation of his case. By mid-March of 2007, however, counsel became concerned that the lack of funding available to the Standards Council would result in counsel being unable to pay for the services of experts and for counsel themselves to continue to be paid for their services. Counsel filed several motions for continuance and for additional funds to hire experts and to investigate the case. However, despite these motions, and consistent with counsels’ concerns, the defense did not obtain funds for experts and investigators, and by September 2007, the Standards Council stopped making payments to the defense lawyers altogether. The Standards Council believed that additional funds would not be available to pay for the case until approximately June of 2008, and was uncertain if, even at that time, sufficient funds would be available to move the case forward.

Weis v. State

Inadequate or delayed defense counsel funding from the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council did not result in presumed prejudice to the defendant, since the funding deficiency showed neither an intentional nor an egregious delay on the state's part

Share with Email

Thank you for sharing!

Trending Stories

More From ALM

Subscribe to Daily Report