New Orleans - A death row inmate's absolute right to a lawyer does not necessarily extend to one who is awake throughout his trial, a federal appellate court sitting in New Orleans on a Texas case has found. The court ruled that a sleeping lawyer can provide effective counsel as long as he does not doze during important parts of the trial.
The court overturned a lower court decision to order a new trial for Calvin Jerold Burdine, whose first appeal heard evidence from three jurors and a reporter that Burdine's lawyer had regularly napped during his 1994 trial. Burdine was convicted of having murdered his lover.
