Saying the case seemed to be treated “as if it was a simple grand-theft auto,” attorneys for Death Row inmate Curtis Windom argued Monday that he should not be executed Aug. 28 because of incompetent legal representation during his 1992 trial for murdering three people in Orange County.
The attorneys filed a 67-page brief at the Florida Supreme Court that said Windom’s convictions and death sentence should be overturned because a lawyer during the trial was not qualified to represent defendants in death-penalty cases.
“The trial record indicates counsel was out of his league,” the brief said. “He did not have the slightest notion how to handle complicated mental health investigation and presentation at either the trial or the penalty phase stages of a capital trial. Today standards have evolved and the rules in place now would have prevented this injustice.”…