Last week, a divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed a case challenging the constitutionality of paying flat fees to Philadelphia defense counsel in capital cases, The Legal Intelligencer's P.J. D'Annunzio reports. Mark Bookman, one of the lawyers who brought the case, told The Legal "'the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had a real opportunity to bring Philadelphia up to, or at least closer to, national standards on how you handle these serious cases. The evidence that this representation is insufficient and has been insufficient for years now is the constant stream of [death penalty] reversals in the state courts and federal courts.”'
Lawyer and Legal Journalist
