Judgment and Justice

This report details the important benefits available to Texas counties participating in the Regional Public Defender Office for Capital Cases (RPDO). Among the report's key findings:

• Because the costs of defense are pre-paid through an annual fee, member counties are willing to appoint a full capital team earlier and in a larger proportion of cases than non- member counties.
• RPDO's strategic focus on early mitigation investigations is much more likely to result in disposition of the case by plea, thus avoiding costly capital trials.
• Counties that join the RPDO are in immediate conformance with standards of quality for capital defense recommended by the State Bar of Texas Guidelines and Standards for Texas Capital Counsel.
• Sentencing outcomes are better for clients with public defenders. Just one in 26 RPDO clients in the matched study sample received a sentence of death. Among private assigned counsel, one in five clients received this worst possible outcome.