ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 22, 1991                   TAG: 9102220109
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short


JUSTICE TO REJECT PLEAS FOR APPEAL EXTENSIONS

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia warned lawyers in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi on Thursday he will not give death-row inmates extra time to file appeals just because they cannot find other attorneys.

Scalia said he will deny such deadline-extension requests sparked by an attorney's request for outside legal help or the attorney's own withdrawal from the case - unless, he stipulated, a withdrawal was "a reasonably unforeseeable occurrence."

Supreme Court rules require appeals in all cases to be filed within 90 days of the lower court decision being challenged. But a justice may grant an extension of up to 60 days "for good cause shown."

- Associated Press



 by CNB