Press Release

BISMARCK, ND -- July 16, 2002 -- Dan Alsobrooks, President of the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) released Tuesday the most recent policy statement concerning efforts to expand DNA testing and insure competent lawyers in death penalty cases. Alsobrooks is the elected District Attorney of the 23rd Judicial District in Charlotte, Tennessee.

Legislation pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee entitled "The Innocence Protection Act" is scheduled for a vote in that committee Thursday. Alsobrooks noted that America's prosecutors support the concept and many of the provisions of the law, but emphasized that in drafting legislation, language is extremely important. It is critical for the federal government to recognize the role states play in providing and funding virtually all criminal prosecution and defense.

The NDAA, whose 7000 members represent all of America's state and local prosecutors is already supporting legislation drafted by Senators designed to insure DNA testing at any stage of a criminal proceeding - even up to the eve of execution - if that test would factually establish the defendant's actual guilt or innocence. "America's prosecutors successfully led the fight for the last 20 years to insure that DNA is accepted in the courts of this land," Also brooks said. "It is our ethical duty to seek a just result in every case, not merely convictions."

The NDAA joins the Conference of (State Supreme Court) Chief Justices in "resolving to oppose any attempt by Congress to impose on state courts standards related to the competence of counsel, or the conduct of court proceedings." Such standards must be adopted by each state taking into account the needs and resources of their communities.

It is in the interest of prosecutors, society at large and particularly the victims and their survivors to have a capital case adequately defended both to insure justice and to avoid reversals due to claims of inadequate assistance of counsel.

In light of claims that there have been inadequate defense counsel in the most serious of crimes, the NDAA strongly urges that in any case in which a lawyer either admits rendering ineffective assistance of counsel or is found by a court to have rendered ineffective counsel, that lawyer shall be permanently disqualified from any further representation of capital defendants in state or federal courts.

Alsobrooks noted that under current practice it is not unusual for lawyers who have represented capital defendants at trial to get on the witness stand in post conviction proceedings that examine the adequacy of the defendant's counsel and claim they were incompetent, knowing there are never any consequences for having provided inadequate counsel.

The NDAA president noted that many states have already developed comprehensive standards for which lawyers can represent persons accused of the most serious of crimes and that America's prosecutors have drafted most of the state laws expanding the use of DNA to both convict the guilty and exonerate the innocent.

(Link to Policy Statement)