Excerpted from "Mean Justice" by Edward Humes, Pocket Star Books, 1999.

Federico M. Macias is freed from his death sentence in Texas after coming within two days of exection. An appeals court found that Macias had received a grossly incompetent, government-paid defense attorney who did virtually nothing in the case, while the prosecution ignored substantial evidence of Macias's innocence in order to secure his conviction. Once the conviction was overturned, the grand-jury refused to indict him a second time - normally a rubber-stamp process for the prosectuion - because there literally was no legitimate evidence of his guilt.

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Excerpted from Staff Report by the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights Committee on the Judiciary One Hundred Third Congress, First Session Issued October 21, 1993

Inadequate Counsel: Federico Macias

Federico Macias' court -appointed lawyer did virtually nothing to prepare his case for trial. Macias was sentenced to death in Texas in 1984. Two days before his scheduled execution he received a stay. New counsel from the large Skadden, Arps law firm had entered the case and devoted the firm's considerable resources and expertise to turning this case around. Mr. Macias' conviction was overturned via a federal writ of habeas corpus which was upheld by a unanimous panel of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in December, 1992. The court found that not only was Macias' original counsel grossly ineffective, but also that he had missed considerable evidence pointing to Macias' innocence. The court concluded:

We are left with the firm conviction that Macias was denied his constitutional right to adequate counsel in a capital case in which actual innocence was a close question. The state paid defense counsel $11.84 per hour. Unfortunately, the justice system got only what it paid for. [14]

Thereafter, Macias was freed when the grand jury, which now had access to the evidence developed by the Skadden, Arps attorney, refused to re-indict him.

There are many similar stories of defendants who have spent years on death row, some coming within hours of their exeuction, only to be released by the courts with all charges dropped.[15] What is noteworthy about the cases outlined above is that they are very recent examples which illustrate that mistabken death sentences are not a relict of the past.