Bill > S2508

This bill removes the authority of trial courts and courts that impose the death penalty to appoint legal counsel for individuals seeking executive clemency, which is a process where a person can ask the governor or a clemency board to reduce or forgive a criminal sentence. Specifically, it eliminates the ability of these courts to appoint public defenders or other attorneys to represent defendants in executive clemency proceedings and also removes the provision for paying appointed attorneys for this specific type of legal representation after a death sentence has been imposed. Instead, the bill creates a new process where the Board of Executive Clemency itself may appoint private counsel for individuals sentenced to death seeking clemency, with compensation for these attorneys capped at $10,000 and paid from state funds. This change aims to shift the responsibility and control of appointing and compensating counsel for executive clemency from the courts to the clemency board.