Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 43

9b ST. PETERSBURG TIMES THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1983 Ruling on lawyers could prompt more appeals by death row inmates Garbage from 1-B By NEIL SKENE St Plflbmg Tim Sutt Wntr Hence the need for another dump. Bob Van Deman, project manager for the county plant, told the EDC Tuesday that the Sod Farm in the only property available to the county. Locating the site farther north would place it too near St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport.

The land south of the property is privately owned. "Whenever you have a resource recovery facility, you have to have landfill," said Deman. Some items like large tree trunks will not incinerate, he said. And the county, he added, has to have a dump in case "an or calamity" should shut the plant down. Deman explained that the landfill would be surrounded by an 88-foot-tall, manmade hill, planted over with grass and pine trees so that motorists driving by the site wouldn't even be able to see it.

Risser, president of Risser Oil agreed that the county can control the site's appearance. What oncerns him, he said, will be its smell. are not talking about a landfill to bury ash (residue)," Risser said. "We're also talking about burying garbage." RISSER CONCEDED he is part owner of a 12-acre tract that is within 630 feet of the sod farm's northern boundary and that his company owns a 22-acre site a mile north of the new plant. A garbage dump nearby would lower his property value.

But, said Risser, "Even if I didn't own property in that area, I would still be concerned The fact is that the county wants to use this land as garbage dump "We're talking about a monstrous landfill in an area Washington confessed to three brutal murders in Dade County during 10 days in 1976: the stabbing of a minister, who was held down by an accomplice; the stabbing and shooting of an elderly woman in the presence of her three sisters-in-law; and the stabbing of a 20-year-old college student whom Washington had kidnapped two days earlier. Washington pleaded guilty, and his attorney, William Tunkey of Miami, argued for mercy on the basis of Washington's guilty plea, his remorse and emotional distress over his inability to find a job and to provide for his family at the time of the murders. TRIAL JUDGE Richard Fuller, while expressing "a great deal of respect for people who are willing to step forward and admit their responsibility," sentenced Washington to death. Washington later got his execution delayed by claiming in federal court that his attorney should have done more. The attorney didn't bring in character witnesses as Washington suggested and failed to use psychiatric reports, Washington said.

At a federal court hearing, the state called Judge Fuller as a witness to testify that the character witnesses would not have affected his sentence. Washington's claim finally reached the full 11th Circuit Court last summer. Underlying any criminal defendant's claim that his trial lawyer was ineffective is the defendant's constitutional right, under the Sixth Amendment, to have "the assistance of counsel for his defense." That means "effect ive" counsel, courts say. A lawyer may be "effective" without winning the case, but courts have had difficulty setting specific standards. In the latest case, for example, the court said an experienced lawyer might legitimately decide in some situations not to investigate a plausible line of defense if the decision was based on "reasonable assumptions." AFTER DEMONSTRATING that his attorney's approach was unreasonable, a defendant still must prove that whatever mistakes he believes his attorney made "worked to his actual and substantial disadvantage." But that seems easier than the old standard proving that the mistake "affected the outcome of the trial." The appeals court did make one thing very clear.

No more summoning trial judges, like Judge Fuller, to testify about what they woujd or would not have done. A new federal court ruling may give several dozen death row inmates new chances to escape execution by challenging the effectiveness of their trial lawyers. The ruling, from the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, lays down new standards standards seemingly more generous to defendanU forjudging the "effectiveness" of criminal defense lawyers. "When an attorney fails to conduct a substantial investigation into any of his client's plausible lines of defense, the attorney has failed to render effective assistance of counsel," Judge Robert S.

Vance wrote on behalf of the court. "The attorney equally fails to render effective assistance when he chooses among several plausible lines of defense, thereby excluding certain of them, for no strategic reason." The court, which handles all federal appeals from Florida, Georgia and Alabama, filed the opinion Dec. 23. It appears to be an attempt to clarify standards for effectiveness of criminal defense lawyers, but lawyers on both sides of the issue were uncertain Wednesday about how the ruling changes the law. "On the whole, it probably helps us," said Susan Cary, a lawyer in Gainesville who represents death row inmates.

"But there's something that each side will be glad is in there." SAID DON NORTH, spokesman for state Attorney General Jim Smith, "It just hasn't been digested yet. For the same reason, we don't know how many cases may be similarly affected." No decision has been made about appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, North said. Quite a few of Florida's 195 death row inmates have challenged their death sentences or sought stays of execution by complaining in state and federal courts about the way their attorneys handled their trials. By announcing a standard somewhat different from the one previously applied, the 11th Circuit Court has raised the possibility that many, if not all, of those prisoners will seek new hearings.

U.S. Circuit Judge Paul Roney of St. Petersburg was one of three dissenters on the 11-judge court who complained about federal courts' applying "20-20 hindsight" to "quibble" with lawyers' judgments. The court's ruling was made in the case of David Leroy Washington. St.

Patanburg Timci KATHLEEN CABBLE County Attorney W. Gray Dunlap and Donald 'Ace' Acenbrack, the county's solid waste disposal director, explain where the landfill would be located. facility. He added that the city also is trying to entice a Michigan-based electrical firm to open a'factory on the 147-acre tract that St. Petersburg wants from the county.

That deal hinges on the city getting title to the property, Habgood said, urging against a delay. But the EDC voted unanimously to delay action for a week so that the county can get a better idea of how often the plant could break down and how much garbage might be dumped in the Sod Farm. The EDC will hold a special session at 3 p.m. next Wednesday to review the matter and take a final vote. of key industrial development." Risser asked the EDC to at least delay granting a variance to the city's industrial zoning on the property.

But County Attorney Gray Dunlap quickly cautioned that the county's land-swap deal with the city hinged on the county being allowed to dump on the property. A vote to delay the zoning variance would delay the land swap, Dunlap said. And John Habgood, St. Petersburg's director of economic development, warned that delaying the land swap could complicate the city's deal with Showa Univerisity, which has already begun building its research LIMITED IV OFFER 1 1 IS nil mi Oyw 273 Sits hSlKk CHoo fiom Sealy Simmon Srto England! Bautytt Th arm FANTASTIC VALUES! ort cleaning out all ud Hofl Moll and If you made a resolution to save money this vear, American Airlines '20 30 '50 60 TWIN SIZE SET 2-pc set FULL SIZE SET 2 pc set QUEEN SIZE SET 2- set KING SIZE SET 3- pc set ALL SETS FULLY SANITIZED Hours: Mon. thro Sat.

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