Issue quote: Harry Trainor, Jr., on Indigent Defense - Testimony, August 5, 2008

The reality is that death penalty cases are so complex and so labor intensive that low-paid attorneys actually have to choose between putting on an adequate defense and losing money on the case... A system that puts a person's life on the line cannot hang its hopes on the sheer luck that a few extraordinary good samaritans will always be there and be willing to make these kinds of sacrifices.