Death Penalty Cases

The California Supreme Court is seeking qualified lawyers to represent indigent defendants sentenced to death. Qualified counsel may be appointed for the direct appeal, the related state habeas corpus/executive clemency proceedings, or both.

Click here to apply for appointment to capital cases.
Click here to see brochure on appointments in capital cases. (revised February 2008)
Click here for qualification criteria for appointment.


Click here for memorandum on duties of appointed counsel. (revised April 2008)

Supreme Court Policies in Cases Arising from Judgments of Death; Payment Guidelines for Appointed Counsel; and, Guidelines for Fixed Fee Appointments to Automatic Appeals and Related Habeas Corpus Proceedings.

As amended effective August 27, 2008, to add provisions for proceedings returnable in superior court following an order to show cause on alleged mental retardation of condemned inmates (pp. 24-25); July 23, 2008, to increase payments for the services of investigators and experts (pp. 23-24); as amended January 1, 2008, to provide increased funding for habeas corpus investigations pursuant to Assembly Bill No. 1248 (2007-2008 Reg. Sess.) (Stats. 2007, ch. 738); as amended effective October 1, 2007, to increase amounts in the payment guidelines. The changes for August 27, 2008, and July 23, 2008, are shown with strikethrough for deletions and underscoring for additions.

• in Adobe Acrobat format (116 KB)
• in Word format (180 KB)

Memorandum on avoiding unnecessary delay in processing fee and expense applications and applications for reimbursement of habeas corpus investigation services and expenses. (As amended January 2008 to reflect increases in habeas corpus funding.)

• in Adobe Acrobat format (86 KB)

Description of categories on the cumulative hours/services and expenses compensation form for automatic appeals and/or related state habeas corpus/executive clemency proceedings

• Instructions in Adobe Acrobat format (25 KB)
• Form in Adobe Acrobat format (35 KB)

A news release issued by the Supreme Court on August 22, 2001, explains (i) the information counsel must provide when requesting extensions of time for filing briefs or other documents in capital cases, and (ii) information required in confidential status reports every 60 days in capital cases.
(Caution: The version of Policy 4 of the Supreme Court Policies Regarding Cases Arising From Judgments of Death also set forth in the news release was subsequently amended. Click here for current version of Policy 4. (PDF, 9 KB))