Spring 2012: Capital Punishment Clinic

By Professor Patrick Metze, Director of the Capital Punishment Clinic. Originally published in the Spring 2012 Texas Tech Law Newsletter.

Report on the second semester of the Capital Punishment Clinic, describing the six student-attorneys' integration into the Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases office and the classroom component's focus on the "why" of capital defense.

From the Desk of Patrick S. Metze, Capital Punishment Clinic

The Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases office welcomed it's second Capital Punishment Clinic this past Spring semester with active cases pending in a region exceeding 150,000 square miles, encompassing 127 counties in the State of Texas. Our clients are, each of them, in the unenviable position of prolonged incarceration, generally single-celled, alienated from family, and without hope of eventual release.

This column is reproduced only in brief. Read the whole thing in the Spring 2012 issue at Texas Tech Law.