OGDEN, Utah (AP) - An appellate attorney is out of a job after speaking publicly about a lack of funding in a death penalty case.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports defense attorney Samuel Newton, who is based in Montana but had a contract in Weber County to represent death row inmate Douglas Lovell in his appeal, withdrew from Lovell’s case in September, saying payment issues were causing stress-related medical issues, as well as a conflict of interest.
Weber County officials deemed the comments “harmful to the county’s reputation.”
Weber County Commissioner James Harvey wrote In a letter to Newton dated Oct. 26 that county officials are terminating Newton’s contract to handle all of the other appeals for indigent criminal defendants in the county, effective Jan. 31.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
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