Opinion ID: 2159715
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Second Change in Counsel

Text: The decision regarding Ms. Alfonso's replacement was not made by Lapidus and Liguori because, at the same time that Ms. Alfonso withdrew from the case, there was yet another change in the defense team. On November 23, 1992, just six weeks before trial, and during the time that Liguori was out of the country on his honeymoon, Lapidus resigned from the Office of the Public Defender. Krakora re-assigned Soto as lead counsel. At the PCR hearing, Krakora testified that he never would have assigned two such relatively inexperienced attorneys as Soto and Liguori to a capital case at the outset. Nonetheless, one month before trial, Soto, who had only two years' experience trying criminal cases, and had no training in the investigation and presentation of a case in mitigation of the death penalty, became lead counsel for DiFrisco's sentencing trial. Liguori, who had the same amount of experience and training as Soto, was assistant counsel. Furthermore, Soto retained her full caseload for several weeks leading up to the trial.