Lane, who had served sentences for robbery in Colorado and manslaughter in Louisiana, will be buried in the prison cemetery in Huntsville. A state of neglect. The compensation for Texas' court-appointed attorneys is almost the lowest in the country, the study said. Capital punishment in Texas accelerates while court-appointed defense of indigent defendants is not getting any better, Bright said. The report noted that judges are elected in 32 of the 38 states with the death penalty.
Judges have a duty to follow the law, whether it's popular or unpopular.
And yet in these cases, if the judge does enforce the law, he or she is signing his or her political death warrant. The court-appointed system that operates in Texas, Alabama and Louisiana also underpays trial lawyers, Bright said. Staff writer Allan Turner in Houston contributed to this story. Back to HCI Home Page.