Prominent lawyer to speak on death penalty rights

International death penalty expert and trial lawyer Stephen B. Bright will deliver his lecture “The Right To Counsel in Death Penalty and Other Criminal Cases ...” Tuesday, Nov. 16 at 6 p.m.

The free speech for the 25th Annual I. Goodman Cohen Lecture in Trial Advocacy will take place in the Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium at the Law School.
Bright was a student under Wayne Law Professor Robert Sedler from 1971 to 1974 at the University of Kentucky.

“Steve’s talk will be based on his experience nationally and it’s the fact that there is often inadequate appointed counsel for indigent people in death penalty cases and, he says, other criminal cases,” Sedler said. “Steve is one of the nation’s foremost lawyers litigating death penalty cases over the years.”

The problem with court-appointed attorneys now, according to Selder, is that they are often underpaid and overworked, resulting in poor defense.

Bright is a “strong opponent of the death penalty” and specializes in defending those facing it, Sedler said.

Bright has devoted almost his entire legal career to litigating these types of cases.

“This is a specialized aspect of civil right,” Sedler said. “His litigation has dealt entirely with the death penalty, trying to oppose the death penalty, both by giving many talks against the death penalty and representing persons facing the death penalty.

“He’s had tremendous success. He’s litigated the most difficult, unpopular cases. He’s had a string of success in avoiding the death penalty.”

In most of Bright’s cases, Sedler said, he seeks a review of a jury-imposed death penalty. He has to prove that proper procedures weren’t followed and that the death penalty verdict should be set aside.

Bright is the president and senior counsel for the Southern Conference on Human Rights, based in Atlanta. He has lectured on the death penalty at Yale Law School since 1993. He has also taught at Harvard, the University of Chicago, Emory and Georgetown.

He obtained both his bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Kentucky.

Sedler taught at the University of Kentucky Law School from 1966-77. In 1977 he came to Wayne Law.

The I. Goodman Cohen lecture series is named after a late prominent Michigan trial lawyer. Every year the Law School brings a prominent trial attorney to Detroit for a lecture and informal meetings with faculty and students.