In Alabama, no legislation has been introduced to enhance access to DNA testing. But state Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said this spring that strong sentiment exists in the Senate for making sure indigent defendants receive good legal representation and can get access to DNA testing. In another survey question, more than 60 percent of those surveyed agreed that poor people are more likely to be sentenced to death than more affluent defendants charged with the same crime. But only 40 percent agreed that a black person is more likely than a white person to be given the death penalty for the same crime. That shows that people recognize the role that money plays in the justice system, regardless of race, Nicholls said.
People believe that rich people can get off whether they're black or white.
Simpson could afford to hire some of the best lawyers in the business, Nicholls and McCaffrey said. National statistics support the contention that the amount of money spent on legal help makes a difference. A survey conducted last year by the National Law Journal found that more than half of the death row inmates in six Southern states had been represented by lawyers who had never before handled a capital case. Some 66 percent said lethal injection is a more appropriate method of execution. Ten percent preferred the electric chair.