Over at his Georgia Criminal Appellate Law Blog, McDonough criminal defense attorney J. Scott Key has gotten into a heated debate with Southwestern Circuit Public Defender Samuel G. Merritt over how public defender offices should handle client conflicts.

What has brought the question to a head is an advisory opinion issued in 2010 by the State Bar board that drafts opinions on ethical matters. The opinion says different lawyers employed in the same circuit public defender office may not represent co-defendants when a single lawyer representing those defendants would have a conflict of interest.

Worried about the potential costs of that approach, the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council has challenged the rule, arguing that many such conflicts can be addressed by screening off lawyers within an office. The Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments on the matter last month. (Formal Advisory Opinion No. 10-1 videos)

A post by Key criticized public defenders’ willingness to support what Key says are double standards for poor people.

That prompted a lengthy response from Merritt, who said he didn’t think Key had all the facts.

Key shot back that he was chairman of the amicus committee for the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and bristled at the idea that the opinions of someone “outside the public defender world” carried less weight.

Check out Key’s blog for all the rhetorical fireworks.

The most recent issue of Emory Magazine features on its cover the face of Jay Ewart, the Emory alum who represented Troy Davis.

Ewart, a 2003 graduate of Emory’s law school and an associate at Arnold & Porter in Washington, was pro bono counsel for Davis, executed in September for the 1989 shooting of Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail. Backed by Ewart, other lawyers and a worldwide network of activists, Davis had long maintained his innocence.

In the article, Ewart say the Davis case remains on his mind.

“It’s strange, because I still think about the case constantly,” he says. “I’ll have an idea for a new strategy, and then I’ll kind of wake up and remind myself that Troy’s dead, it’s over. Luckily they haven’t been great ideas so far. I have to hope I don’t get one.”

Presiding Justice George H. Carley has made official what he announced in October: he will retire from the state Supreme Court on July 17.

Carley’s resignation letter, delivered to Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday, urged Deal to have an appointee ready to be sworn in “immediately” after his resignation—promising the governor he would have his office cleaned out. Judicial Nominating Commission Co-Chair Pete Robinson of Troutman Sanders Strategies said Friday that the JNC would put out a formal call for nominations in April, with an eye to giving Deal a short list of candidates in early June.

Carley’s letter explained that he selected the precise date of July 17 because that’s the day after the deadline for resolving all of the court’s January term cases. Carley also requested that he be appointed a senior judge so that he can vote on motions for reconsideration filed after his retirement date in cases in which he had participated as an active justice.  Carley said he also hopes to serve as a designated judge in other courts during his retirement. In a Wednesday letter to Carley accepting his resignation, Deal said he would grant Carley senior appellate court judge status effective July 18.

Carley had at one point said that he planned to serve out his six-year term that ends at the close of 2012, thereby creating an open seat to be filled by election. But last fall he announced that he would leave the court early so that he could serve a two-month term as chief justice that would coincide with this year’s State Bar meeting—scheduled for May 31 through June 3 in Savannah and retire as the court’s chief.

The Supreme Court of Georgia will no longer accept the filing of a case without the required fee.

Under a rule change announced Monday and effective March 1, the court’s clerk is prohibited from receiving or filing an application, petition for certiorari  or appellant’s brief in a direct appeal until the party submitting the document pays the required costs or provides sufficient evidence of indigency. Prior to the revisions, the court’s rules said costs had to be paid at the time of filing—and noted attorneys could be sanctioned for failure to pay—but did not specifically forbid the clerk’s office from accepting a filing without payment.

The required fees are $300 in most civil cases and $80 in criminal and most habeas corpus cases. Costs are not required for certified questions, disciplinary cases, or State Bar or Office of Bar Admissions matters.

Under the rule, there are four ways of proving indigency. The revised rule allows the filing of an affidavit of indigency with the Supreme Court, while the prior version required indigent status to be granted by the trial court.

For those interested in viewing Jay Ewart’s remarks at Emory University in their entirety, the school has helpfully posted video of last week’s event.

Ewart, a 2003 graduate of Emory’s law school and an associate at Arnold & Porter in Washington, was pro bono counsel for Troy Davis, executed in September for the 1989 shooting of Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail. Backed by Ewart, other lawyers and a worldwide network of activists, Davis had long maintained his innocence.

Emory law professor Kay L. Levine’s Q&A with Ewart can be found on the video following a pitch for Emory’s fundraising campaign by an Emory law student. Our reporting on the highlights of the event can be found here.

Four months after watching his client Troy Anthony Davis executed at a Georgia prison, Jay Ewart entertained questions at his alma mater, Emory University. Speaking to a few dozen students, alumni and others Wednesday night, Ewart told the story of the pro bono case he picked up at Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C., not long after graduating from Emory’s law school in 2003.

Davis was executed in September for the 1989 shooting of Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail. Backed by Ewart, other lawyers and a worldwide network of activists, Davis had long maintained his innocence.

Ewart said Wednesday his practice focuses on antitrust law, but he logged 600 to 700 hours on the Davis case. He won a groundbreaking victory for Davis from the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009, when it ordered Davis be given an evidentiary hearing on his innocenceclaims. But the hearing, before U.S. District Judge William T. Moore Jr. in Savannah, went poorly for Davis, ending his best hope for relief.

Ewart’s talk was both candid and guarded, as he offered personal insights into the case but showed some hesitancy in identifying by name the players he was discussing.

Read more »

Gov. Nathan Deal is expected to swear in tomorrow his first appellate court appointee, Michael P. Boggs.

The ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. tomorrow in the state House of Representatives chamber, according to Boggs’ office. Deal on Dec. 20 appointed Boggs, a Superior Court judge in the six-county Waycross Judicial Circuit since 2004, to replace retiring Judge J.D. Smith of the state Court of Appeals.

A unanimous panel of the 11^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a ruling that ordered a transgender woman be allowed to return to her job at the Georgia General Assembly.

Vandiver Elizabeth Glenn, who was born a biological male, lost her job as an editor in the state’s Office of Legislative Counsel after she told a supervisor that she would be coming to work as a woman and changing her legal name to a female one. Tuesday’s ruling, issued less than a week after the appeals panel heard oral argument, agreed with U.S. District Judge Richard W. Story that the firing amounted to sex discrimination.

We will have a full story on this decision on our website later this afternoon.

Gov. Nathan Deal’s first appellate appointment is at least a few weeks off.  According to Deal’s executive counsel, W. Ryan Teague, Deal’s interviews of finalists for a spot on the state Court of Appeals are set for Dec. 16.

The Judicial Nominating Commission’s short list of six, released Nov. 15, includes:

• Michael P. Boggs, a Superior Court judge in the Waycross Judicial Circuit;
• Elizabeth L. “Lisa” Branch, a partner at Smith, Gambrell & Russell in Atlanta;
• Donald P. Geary, chief assistant district attorney in DeKalb County;
• John C. Pridgen, chief judge for the Cordele Judicial Circuit Superior Court;
• Mary E. Staley, Superior Court judge in Cobb County; and
• Benjamin W. Studdard III, chief judge of the Henry County State Court.

The search is to fill a vacancy that will be created by the departure of Presiding Judge J.D. Smith, who in September announced plans to retire from the court at the end of this year.

Gov. Nathan Deal’s Judicial Nominating Commission is taking nominations for three Superior Court openings:

• DeKalb County Superior Court,  where an opening has been created by the resignation of Judge Michael E. Hancock;
• Chatham County Superior Court, where an opening has been created by the resignation of Judge Perry Brannen Jr.; and
• Conasauga Judicial Circuit Superior Court, where an opening on the court that covers Whitfield and Murray counties has been created by the resignation of Judge Robert B. Adams.

The details can be found here, and all nominations are due Dec. 5. Would-be judges can nominate themselves. Nominations should be sent by letter addressed to Judicial Nominating Commission, c/o Dana McGuire, 600 Peachtree, N.E., Suite 5200, Atlanta, GA  30308-2216, by fax to (404) 962-6919 or by email c/o dana.mcguire@troutmansanders.com).

Nominees will be sent an application package due back to the JNC Dec. 19, and the commission says it will interview applicants the week of Jan. 9.