Wichita County withdraws from the state program to defend the death penalty

Wichita Falls, Texas (Kauz) – Wichita County Commissioners unanimously voted on Tuesday morning to withdraw from the regional public defense lawyer for capital cases, citing the increasing costs and the limited local use of the death penalty.

The program offers legal defense in capital cases that are suitable for the death penalty. The program has always become expensive over the years, whereby the costs for local taxpayers, which are now over 70,000 per year, are more than 70,000 US dollars.

District judge Jim Johnson said that the district researched alternatives in order to continue to offer high -quality legal defense without relying on the program.

“Some of the alternatives would be to ask other counties that have had the experience that have had the cases of death penalties. They have lawyers in their public defense office who did this to mediate them as support for the death penalty that the office of our public defense lawyer has to do,” said judge Johnson.

According to Johnson, the death penalty in Wichita County is rarely pursued according to Texas right due to strict legal criteria.

“There are only very specific types of cases in Texan law that the death penalty can be pursued, and luckily we didn't have many of them. And then it is ultimately a decision that the public prosecutor of the district prosecutor would make in a Texan district in Texas, whether it is being persecuted,” said Judge Johnson.

In Wichita County, fewer than 10 death penalty in Wichita were issued in Wichita County. Nevertheless, Johnson noticed that when they occur, they can cause a significant burden on the judicial system.

“If you deal with a case of a death penalty, there is of course only a lot of pressure on the lawyers involved, the entire staff, the judge and the jurors who have to deal with this really monumental and difficult kind of case, so there is pressure,” said Judge Johnson.

District managers say that the money previously used for the regional defender program could be redirected to projects that offer residents more advantages.

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