USF Law Students Impact Death Penalty Cases
Pictured at the Louisiana Supreme Court, students participating in the Keta Taylor Colby Death Penalty Project this summer include (left to right) Ashley Connell, Lani Virostko, Brian McComas, Tiffany Danao, and Natalie Davis.
"With only four lawyers and a small staff to do investigation and mitigation for all of the cases, there is always more to do than there is time for in this office," she said. "My partner and I are often able to spend the time to do more in-depth interviews and research than might otherwise be done. The time we spent with our client in jail has been very important too. He has expressed feeling alone and uncertain about the status of his case. I think just visiting and talking to our client makes a big difference to him."
Connell, who also was charged with interviewing the mother of the victim in the case, is one of six USF students learning U.S. death penalty law as summer interns in New Orleans and Jackson, Miss., as part of the USF School of Law's Keta Taylor Colby Death Penalty Project.
Now in its eighth year, the project is directed by Professor Steven Shatz, who has conducted extensive research into the application of the death penalty. While many law schools fund individual students' public interest summer internships, USF is the only law school with a dedicated summer internship program in which students work on death penalty cases. For the capital defense offices--often stretched for time and staffing--the program is invaluable.
"I select the students for them, train the students, provide the students with cars and stipends, and the students often do outstanding work," Shatz said. In past years, some death sentences have been overturned as a result of USF students' work.
Laurel Gorman '05 worked on three such cases. She and another intern in Houston in the summer of 2003 conducted mitigation investigations for three cases that eventually proved the defendants were mentally retarded. Their interviews with relatives and the school and medical records she uncovered saved the defendants from execution.
"Working with inmates on death row sealed my career path," said Gorman, who is now an Alameda County public defender. "Having seen errors attorneys made and having seen what goes into a death penalty appeal makes me a more cautious and diligent public defender."
In 2002, in Mississippi, Amy Flynn '04 uncovered evidence that led a jury to reject the death penalty for her client, and David Brody '04 wrote the brief that caused the Mississippi Supreme Court to permit the client to litigate his claims. In 2004, in Arkansas, Jason Horst '06 and Stephanie Smith '06 helped develop a mental retardation claim that released their client from death row.
Still, Shatz cautions students not to expect to overturn cases in the course of their 10-week internship. They also must prepare for failure. In years past, students have worked on post-conviction cases and clemency petitions only to see their clients executed in the end. Typically, students can expect to make small contributions to very large cases.
"While there have been times where students have made a difference in the outcome of a case, I tell students not to expect that. These cases can take years," Shatz said.
The real measure of success, Shatz says, is whether the students were able to undertake work that the law offices otherwise would not have had the time or resources to do and whether the experience had a personal effect on the student. "Did it change them and their views? After sitting across from a person who is on death row, more than a few students have said the internship was life-changing," Shatz said.
Students prepare for the internship during the spring semester by attending four training sessions covering a range of issues in death penalty law and practice. They are then sent in pairs to work in offices of capital defense lawyers in the South. Each student is assigned to work with an attorney on one or more of that attorney's cases.
"The work is tedious," said Brian McComas, who chose to attend law school at USF in part because of his interest in this project. "It takes a strong mind to handle the facts and it takes an enlightened heart to come down here and, without judgement, accept the disparity and bigotry for what they are."
Of the 44 alumni of the program who have graduated law school, three are now employed doing capital defense work while many others are working as public defenders.
"The job…involves the most fundamental fight anyone can fight: working to save someone's life," said student Elisa Cervantes, who is working for the Capital Post-Conviction Project of Louisiana in New Orleans this summer. "That, to me, is always worth fighting for."
