Anthony Wainwright is scheduled to be executed on June 10. He is a human being. A person with a name, a history, and a story that deserves to be heard. But the State of Florida is preparing to kill him without even allowing him meaningful representation in state court. This is what abandonment looks like. What’s happening to Anthony is a failure of the system in its most cruel and irreversible form. Anthony Wainwright should not be executed without a voice. Be that voice. Fight for him. (fb)

A critical message from FADP's Executive Director Maria DeLiberato: When I took over as Executive Director of FADP three years ago this week, I knew there would be times when it was hard to wear my lawyer hat and my abolitionist hat. For the most part, I can wear both at the same time. I’m not the lawyer for any of these men facing execution in Florida, so the hard decisions about what to do with their cases are not mine. I usually refrain from getting into the legal weeds in these cases, because it is incredibly complicated, and because the decisions are never black and white. But what is happening in the Florida Supreme Court on Anthony’s case this week is shocking, and should make everyone afraid. Anthony’s constitutional right to have a lawyer represent him before his scheduled execution is in grave danger. Before we dive in, it’s important to understand the history of how people get lawyers on Florida’s death row, so bear with me. When Florida was the first state to restart executions in 1979 with the electrocution of John Spenkelink, there was no organized system for the men on death row to get a lawyer. The men and women who took on these cases were some of the best and brightest, dedicated to the cause, working basically for free, and doing an incredible job of saving lives and stopping executions. If you are truly interested in this history, I urge you to read Among the Lowest of the Dead. In fact, these lawyers were so successful that in the 1990s, the Florida Legislature, with approval from the Governor, decided to create three state-run offices, Capital Collateral Regional Counsels - a north, a middle, and a south. This was both a good and a bad thing. On one hand, it ensured that everyone on death row had access to a lawyer, and was appointed one through an organized process. On the other hand, the head of the CCRCs was to be appointed by the Governor, and confirmed by the Senate, which of course injects politics into who would be running the office, how they spend their money, and who is ultimately hired to do the work. Still, the CCRCs saw many successes, and achieved relief for their clients - exonerations, new trials, sentences reduced to life. Then, in 2003, Governor Jeb Bush sought to shut down the North CCRC (which was by far the most successful), and privatize the work, creating a registry of lawyers with no oversight and no minimum qualification requirements. It was these registry lawyers that led then Supreme Court Justice Raul Cantero to publicly state in 2005 it was “the worst lawyering I’ve ever seen.” The experiment failed. CCRC North reopened in July of 2013. The registry is still maintained in the unlikely event that all three offices have a conflict on a case. But the registry lawyers who had been previously appointed during the failed experiment, including Anthony’s registry lawyer, kept their cases. As an aside, starting in 2015, two federal offices came to Florida - the Capital Habeas Units (“CHUs”) in Tallahassee and in Tampa. This brought much needed additional qualified counsel to Florida, and importantly, ones who were not beholden to political appointments by the Governor, or funding from the Florida legislature. In an ideal situation, the CCRCs would handle the state court litigation and the CHUs would handle the federal court litigation. If you’re still with me, this brings us to what happened when Anthony Wainwright’s warrant was signed. As mentioned above, he had registry counsel appointed on his case, and he did not have a lawyer from CCRC. He also had lawyers from the Tallahassee Capital Habeas Unit, who were appointed in 2018. His registry lawyer had not seen Anthony in more than 10 years, and refused to file an appeal of a legal challenge to Anthony’s death sentence. A retired lawyer from the CHU, who represented Anthony for several years, and who is still an active member of the Florida Bar, offered to represent Anthony in state court for free. Anthony wanted her to represent him in state court. She was not asking for any additional time or expense, just an opportunity for Anthony’s claims to be heard before the State kills him on June 10th. The lower court said no. They said that the retired CHU lawyer could be co-counsel, but the registry lawyer had the final say. Then, just this week, the retired CHU lawyer wanted a petition filed in the Florida Supreme Court to try to stop Anthony’s execution. The registry lawyer refused. She filed it anyway, because it was a completely separate proceeding from the lower court filings, she is a member in good standing of the Florida Bar, Anthony wanted her to be his lawyer, and it would not cost the State anything at all in terms of money or delay. Instead of accepting it, inexplicably, the Florida Supreme Court issued an order saying that the document would be stricken and the case closed unless registry counsel signed on. Registry counsel refused. The pro bono retired lawyer filed an emergency motion to reconsider. The State, who should have absolutely no say in the matter whatsoever, urged the Court to strike the pleading and close the case. We are waiting now for the Court to rule. I know that was a lot of words to get to this critical point. If the Court accepts the State’s argument and refuses to allow a pro bono, qualified, and familiar attorney to represent Anthony, then that means there is no more right to counsel in a death penalty case in Florida. I cannot stress how terrifying this is. If you are not allowed to counsel of your choice when there is 1) no cost to the State and 2) no delay in the process, then you do not have a right to counsel at all. And in Anthony’s case, that would mean he is now stuck with “the worst lawyering” that a retired Supreme Court Justice has ever seen. The death penalty is supposed to be for the most aggravated and the least mitigated of cases. The facts of Anthony’s crime are hard to read, but the things that happened to Anthony as a child are just as horrifying. And the quality of his lawyers before the CHU was appointed in 2018 was nothing short of abysmal - missed deadlines, refusal to file pleadings, and not a single visit in a decade. There are often disagreements between lawyers and abolitionists and I often find myself caught in the delicate, and at times painful, space between legal representation and public advocacy. But regardless of the differences in opinions, we can all agree that the right to have a qualified, competent, and compassionate lawyer fighting for you in what might be the last two weeks of your life should never be taken away. (fb)