Judges Assail Court; Say Executed Inmate Had Incompetent Lawyer

Three judges criticized their own court -- the state’s highest criminal appeals body -- for allowing the execution of an inmate whose attorney was found incompetent by a death row watchdog.

In an opinion issued Wednesday, the judges on the Court of Criminal Appeals said Leonard Rojas, who was convicted of killing his common-law wife and his brother, should not have been executed Dec. 4.

A study by the Texas Defender Service showed that the attorney who first handled Rojas’ appeal had never represented a death row inmate. The report, issued in December, also found that the attorney had been diagnosed with a mental disorder that affected his legal work and three times caused his license to be suspended.

Judges Tom Price, Sharon Johnson and Charles Holcomb dissented in the nine-judge court’s decision not to halt Rojas’ execution but didn’t issue their opinion until Wednesday.

Under a 1995 law, death row inmates can file appeals to raise new claims of innocence, trial misconduct or ineffective counsel. Attorneys are appointed from a roster of lawyers approved by the court.

The Texas Defender Service found several problems on the list, including three lawyers who are now prosecutors.

Rojas confessed several times to shooting his common-law wife, Jo Ann Reed, 34, and his brother, David, 43, in 1994.

Rojas’ last attorney was Greg Wiercioch of the defender service, who said there is no record that the original attorney investigated whether Rojas would have a legitimate claim to mental incompetence or retardation.

“The Court of Criminal Appeals has had a lethal indifference to appointing incompetent attorneys who have not even filed proper claims,” said Andrea Keilen of the defender service.