When I joined my previous firm fresh from law school, Galloway was the first large case I was assigned. The federal magistrate judge in Dallas appointed the firm to represent Galloway during his federal death penalty petition for writ of habeas corpus. This meant that the firm would be the last lawyers Galloway would have.
Since Galloway, I have taken on several other death penalty cases. I never intended to be a death penalty lawyer, but there you have it. There is something interesting about all of the death penalty cases and in Billy Galloway's case, its the trial lawyers.
I was able to depose the trial lawyers (a rarity in criminal law) and was nauseous and near tears at the end of it. The lawyers truly cared for Galloway - one lawyer met with Galloway in the jail for one hour every Sunday for a year. They were not strategizing about the case...just talking. They formed a deep bound; maybe too deep. The objectivity necessary to handle a criminal case was lacking.
The lawyers took on the role of father at the expense of their role of legal advocate. Galloway's lawyers admitted that they never read a Supreme Court opinion requiring death penalty lawyers to investigate and present mitigating evidence. Moreover, they never read the American Bar Assocation Guidelines for Capital Cases which acts as an instruction manual for all death lawyers.
You see, here's the problem with Galloway; he did not want to fight his case. He wanted to die. And his lawyers, acting in the fatherly role, wanted to give Galloway what he wanted. As a death lawyer, your job is to keep the client alive - period.
That did not happen. Neither his trial lawyers nor us could save Billy Galloway. He will be executed tonight.
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