Legal Opinion
Cockrum v. Johnson
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Decided July 30, 1997No. 96-40793PublishedCited by 7 opinions
1Opinion of the Court
PATRICK E. HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judge:
This opinion decides an appeal. It is also an extraordinary account of perverse allocations of government resources in a capital case. In 1986, two court-appointed lawyers and an investigator had six months to prepare for a trial that ended in a death sentence for John Cockrum. A state district judge in a small community in far east Texas presided over the jury trial, running the court with no secretary or law clerk. The lawyers were paid $3,500 and $3,200 respectively for their time. After Cockrum’s death sentence and unsuccessful appeal, a federal…
2Cases cited15 opinions
- Strickland v. WashingtonSupreme Court of the United States · 1984
- Lindh v. MurphySupreme Court of the United States · 1997
- Lockhart v. FretwellSupreme Court of the United States · 1993
- West v. JohnsonCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 1996
- Baltimore Teachers Union v. Mayor of BaltimoreSupreme Court of the United States · 1994
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3Cited by7 opinions
- Kenneth Ray Ransom v. Gary L. Johnson, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional DivisionCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 1997
- Harris v. CockrellCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 2002
- Smith v. QuartermanCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 2008
- Giles v. StateCourt of Criminal Appeals of Alabama · 2004
- Walbey v. QuartermanCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 2009
2 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.