LDF Files Brief Amicus Curiae on Billy G. Hughes Capital Case
Press Release
May 4, 1977

Cite this item
-
Press Releases, Volume 6. LDF Files Brief Amicus Curiae on Billy G. Hughes Capital Case, 1977. f9fb9763-bb92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/165a9481-a508-4bc2-a535-10e38389e2d0/ldf-files-brief-amicus-curiae-on-billy-g-hughes-capital-case. Accessed April 19, 2025.
Copied!
Ks \ JOHN RICCARDO & Chairman SS National Corporate Committee ~) C WILLIAM T. COLEMAN, JR y Chairman of the Board NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND. INC* JULIUS L. CHAMBERS g06 15th Street, NW. HEADQUARTERS —_12 Geary Street en ee Washington, D.C.20006 49 Columbus Circle San Francisco, CA94108 JACK GREENBERG (202) 638-3278 New York, NY.10019 (418) 788-8736 Director-Counsel (212) 586-8397 From: NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. Ten Columbus Circle New York, New York 10019 (212) 586-8397 Contact: Jack Greenberg Joel Berger To: National News Editors, Supreme Court Reporters, Legal Editors Supreme Court Bar Members Urged to Provide Free Counsel for Death Row Inmates New York, N.Y., May 4 - The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have filed a brief amicus curiae in the Supreme Court of the United States, urging it to appoint a member of its bar to represent Texas death row inmate Billy G. Hughes. Of the thirty-two states with capital punishment statutes, most provide counsel for indigent criminal defendants at the state trial and appeal level only. Hughes' court-appointed counsel ceased to represent him after the Texas Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction and death sentence for the April 4, 1976, murder of a Texas Highway Patrolman. While Hughes is entitled to petition the court for a writ of certiorari he cannot afford to retain counsel. -more- Contributions are deductible for U.S. income tax purposes ae AACE LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. (LDF) 1s not a part ofthe National Association forse Me TED Colored People although it was founded by that organization and shar its commitment to equal rights LDFhashad for 20 yearsasep arate Bu id of Directors, program, staff, office and budget Page 2. That Hughes' basis for such a petition is substantial, is attested to by the fact that two judges of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dissented from the decision against him. The brief does not ask for “across-the-board" appointment of counsel in all death cases. Rather, it recommends that counsel be appointed: (1) to determine if there are sufficient grounds to prepare a petition for review and (2) to prepare the petition if it is warranted. The amicus brief points out that the Court has the obligation in a death penalty case to see that a defendant has every possible opportunity to prepare the best case for his defense. Of the approximately 470 death row inmates, many find themselves in the same circumstances as Hughes. Jack Greenberg, Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which has handled the principal capital punishment cases in the Supreme Court in recent years, observed that the problem will become more widespread as more persons are sentenced to death. The brief stated that fifteen years ago in Douglas v. California the Supreme Court held that: "There is lacking that equality demanded by the Fourteenth Amendment where the rich man, who appeals as of right, enjoys the benefit of counsel's examination into the record, research of the law and marshalling of arguments in his behalf, while the indigent.... is forced to shift for himself. The indigent, where the record is unclear or the errors are hidden, has only the right to a meaningless ritual, while the rich man has meaningful appeals." HHEETE