Fox Rothschild LLP Partner Patrick Egan and Matthew Olesh, an associate with the firm, were recently victorious before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in their pro bono representation of an individual who has been sentenced to death on a conviction of first degree murder.
In a landmark opinion, the court addressed the prohibition on the execution of the intellectually disabled pursuant to the US Supreme Court case of Atkins v. Virginia, agreeing with defense counsel that an individual's rights under Atkins could not be waived by the individual when he was in disagreement with his counsel as to his own intellectual disability.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court remanded the case back to the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas for full consideration of the Atkins claim to determine whether the defendant's death sentence should be vacated due to intellectual disability.
Egan has represented this defendant for more than 15 years during the course of his post-conviction appeals.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.