ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 25, 1996 TAG: 9610250093
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
Two of 10 death row inmates set for execution in Virginia by the end of the year were defended by a court-appointed lawyer whose license was suspended last week for neglecting clients.
John Henry Maclin IV of Petersburg was the trial attorney for condemned killers Gregory Beaver and Ronald Hoke, scheduled for execution Dec. 5 and Dec. 16, respectively.
Last Friday, the Virginia State Bar's disciplinary board suspended Maclin's license for four years for neglect in two unrelated but undisclosed cases.
Maclin said Wednesday his trouble with the bar had nothing to do with either of the men facing execution. He also said it concerned the timely representation of clients, not his competence.
But Marie Deans, a longtime advocate for death row inmates, said Maclin's case raises questions about the quality of lawyers appointed to represent indigent defendants on trial for their lives.
David E. Boone of Richmond, one of the most experienced capital murder defense attorneys in the country, agreed. Boone said the problem is of particular concern in rural areas.
``Probably 95 percent of all capital cases are court-appointed,'' he said. ``My experience has been, when you get to rural areas there's a limited number of attorneys who will accept appointment in capital cases.''
Boone has represented more than a dozen people facing the death penalty but was hired for most of the cases and not appointed by the court. None of his clients has been sentenced to death.
Maclin said he gave the best defenses possible for the two condemned men.
Beaver was sentenced to death in Prince George County in September 1985 for the slaying of a state trooper. Hoke, a former mental patient, was convicted in Petersburg in August 1986 of killing a 56-year-old woman.
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