JWU The Gary Graham Case & the Use of The Death Penalty Paper – Description
Week 3 Readings and Resources
Textbook Readings
Read the following chapters from your textbook that will introduce you to key concepts that will be used during the week:
Chapter 5 Death Penalty Text: This chapter addresses the death penalty and juveniles. It highlights the key cases and debates.
Chapter 7 Death Penalty Text: This chapter addresses the death penalty and legal counsel. It highlights the key cases and debates around capital punishment defendants receiving adequate legal counsel and the guidelines for determining whether an appropriate legal defense has been presented.
Chapter 11 of The Death Penalty text: This chapter provides the legal and historical background associated with the Eight Amendment and evolving standards of decency and how the Supreme Court has evaluated these issues.
Chapter 1 of The Decline of the Death Penalty and the Discovery of Innocence text: This chapter outlines the history of the development of the innocence project and illustrates one of the trends towards the innocence movement.
Articles and other resources
Optional
The Right Age to Die? For Some, Science is Outpacing the High Court on Juveniles and the Death Penalty: From The Marshal Project
This article summarizes and discusses some of the science around brain develop in juveniles that is being used by the courts to assess at what age the death penalty can be applied
The Supreme Court has ruled that death penalty defendants must be represented by adequate legal counsel. According to the Strickland case, judges must find that both the trial lawyer’s performance was ineffective and that there is a reasonable likelihood that the outcome of the trial would have been different if the lawyer had been competent. This means the defendant cannot receive a new trial even if their lawyer failed to present evidence of innocence during the trial unless the judges also find that this evidence would have led the jury to acquit the defendant.
Read the case study of:
Gary Graham Case – Representation Issues.docx Gary Graham Case – Representation Issues.docx – Alternative Formats
“Gary Graham Case – The Facts”
After reading the case study, do you believe the performance of Gary Graham’s trial lawyer fell below an “objective standard of reasonableness” and can be consider an ineffective counsel based on the Strickland case? Why or why not?
Based on the case study, is there “a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different” in the Graham case? Why or why not?
Lastly, should there be national standards for attorney performance in capital cases or should the standards be set by each individual state? What do you believe the standards should be for measuring the effectiveness of legal counsel in death penalty cases?
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