Lack of lawyer puts death penalty case on hold

Zebulon — A judge expressed frustration Monday that an accused killer has been without lawyers to represent him for eight months.

Pike County Superior Court Judge Johnnie Caldwell put the death penalty case against Jamie Ryan Weis on hold in hopes Weis can be provided counsel soon.

Weis is charged with killing Catherine King by bludgeoning and shooting her during a burglary at her home Feb. 2, 2006. His case underscores the financial turmoil that has engulfed the state public defender system since it began operating in 2005.

Weis filed suit last week against two executives of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council. He wants a court order forcing the council to sign a contract with Bob Citronberg and Tom West. The two private defense attorneys once represented Weis but were removed when the defender system ran out of money to pay them.

At a court hearing last April, Caldwell noted, a compromise appeared to have been reached with Citronberg and West reinstated, provided they had a contract allowing them to be paid.

Since then, Caldwell said, “nothing has happened.”

Stephen Bright, an attorney trying to secure defense lawyers for Weis, said he thought the defender council would quickly approve a contract with Citronberg and West in April.

“There’s no question the council doesn’t have enough money to do its job,” Bright told Caldwell. “But why, out of all the cases, is this young man without counsel? Something has to be done.”

Bright blamed Mack Crawford, the defender council’s executive director. Crawford has a duty to ensure Weis has lawyers to represent him, Bright said.

At Monday’s hearing, when Caldwell offered him the opportunity to comment, Crawford declined to offer the judge an explanation.

After the hearing, Crawford said he does not have the authority to approve contracts greater than $20,000. He produced a December 2005 internal operating policy that says the council, which has a board of directors, must approve contracts exceeding that amount.

The council invited Citronberg and West to appear before the board at a meeting last June. But the lawyers did not attend, Crawford noted.

Also complicating the issue is a new law requiring local counties to share some of the financial burden for death penalty cases.

The law says the state defender council must pay for the first $150,000 billed by private lawyers defending an indigent capital case. The county would pay 25 percent of the next $100,000 in fees and, beyond $250,000, the state and county would split the defense costs.

Citronberg and West proposed a $255,000 budget for defending the case and the council had set that money aside, Sarah Haskin, the council’s chief of staff, said Monday. But when Citronberg and West were initially removed from the case, the council used that money for other cases, she said.