PAST ARTICLES AND EDITORIAL BOARDS
Problems Defending Under New York's New Death Penalty Law
Russell Neufeld
4 J.L. & Pol'y 143 (1995)
Neufeld's article represents remarks given at a March 9, 1995, forum entitled The Death Penalty in New York: Past, Present. . . Future? Viewing New York's new death penalty statute from his personal perspective as an attorney with the Legal Aid Society, Neufeld warns of the great burden that will be placed on the criminal defense bar. He predicts that public defense organizations will have limited resources to defend against a large number of potential capital cases, the volume of which will be increased by political pressure on district attorneys to seek the death penalty, and the tactical trial advantages gained by prosecutors who do so.

Additionally, because proscecutors have 120 days to decide whether to pursue a death sentence, and because the capital trial is bifurcated into a guilt phase and a sentncing phase, the defense must treat each potentially capital case as a death case, and immediately gather mitigating evidence that might be needed at the sentencing phase to make a case against the imposition of death. Neufeld also warns that since the right to counsel, under New York's new statute, extends only to the first state postconviction procedure, inmates could end up on death row without representation by counsel. This situation could be further exaccerbated by the fact that inmates who become mentally incompetent could find themselves without representation.