Legislators are hopeful that a number of capital cases that have been seriously delayed because of a lack defense funding will be able to move forward this year.

The 5-year-old murder case involving Michelle Reynolds is one of many that have run into a budgetary wall, stalling the time-consuming process of trying a capital case.

She is charged with the July 5, 2004, murder of

her then husband, Thad John Glenn Reynolds. He was found stabbed to death outside of his place of work — a Frito Lay distribution center on Calhoun Road.

Investigators maintain that Michelle Reynolds plotted to kill her husband and was a party to the crime.

Richard Scott Harper pleaded guilty to the murder in October on the stipulation that he would testify if Michelle Reynolds goes to trial, and prosecutors agreed to not ask for the death penalty for either Harper or Michelle Reynolds.

However, by law, the case must be prosecuted as a standard death-penalty case.

Floyd County Superior Court Judge J. Bryant Durham confirmed that at this point primarily budgetary concerns have led to the continued delay of the trial.

Sen. Preston Smith, R-Rome, who serves as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Georgia Public Defender Standards Council Executive Director Mack Crawford has assured him the stalled cases have sufficient funding to be able to move forward.

“There is pretty good communication between the judiciary and the Public Defender Standards Council director,” Smith said. “In the past there was confusion as to what was going on and that’s improving.”

Durham said Crawford has been in touch with him and assured him that the agency is actively working to procure funding to make sure the case moves forward.

The current lag is partially because of the transition into a new statewide public defender system in 2004, Smith said. Those, within the agency, who opposed the death penalty have also fought to make the process slower and more expensive.

“We saw the poster child for that in the Brian Nichols case,” Smith said.

Smith is referring to an Atlanta death-penalty case that cost taxpayers more than $2 million. The standard operating procedure for defending a death-penalty trial is to file literally hundreds of motions ranging from the “mundane and ridiculous to the serious and credible,” Smith said. “And all those motions have to be dealt with and defended.”

It is estimated that $2.4 million is needed to fund nine capital cases across the state left in the bugetary lurch and, so far, about $2.2 million of that has been allocated, Smith said.

“In a technical sense we’ve already paid for (the case) we’ve already allocated money for it,” said Smith. “It’s frustrating that we are where we are. We should have money for (the cases) because we’ve already spent it.”

Local case mirrors state

Another trial slowed by state funding issues is the Theron Plummer capital murder case in Rome. Plummer is accused of shooting and killing his estranged wife, Kimberly Ware, in front of their two children May 25, 2008.

During a hearing in April, presiding Judge Tami Colston told attorneys from the capital defender’s office that she intended to keep the case moving forward.

Defense attorney Gladys Haynes Pollard, representing the state public defender agency that provides legal representation to indigent capital defendants, said they lack funding to hire experts for the case.

Another issue in the case revolved around the defense’s inability to procure funds for a mental-health examination, key to any defense regarding mental health.

In some cases, expert witnesses have not been paid in more than a year, Pollard said.

The intricacies of allocating a budget complicates matters even further.

“We were looking for a way to allocate money in the current budget to pay off those bills, and right in the middle of that the state auditor sent us an opinion that said it was not legal for us to allocate money in a current fiscal year to pay off bills incurred in a previous fiscal year,” Smith said.

“It’s a tough situation we’re in,” Smith said. “Even if we find the money were not allowed to designate it to pay of an expense or fee incurred in a previous fiscal year — but those bills exist and they have to be paid.”

The public defender’s agency is putting hopes into the procuring justice grants from the federal stimulus package in order to cope with the possibility of a further shrinking budget — and to pay off past bills.

Public Defender Director Crawford has been petitioning the government for funding that could help keep future budgetary lags from affecting Georgia cases.

“If he’s successful in gaining (federal funds) that will create a big relief valve for the public defender’s budget,” said Smith.

Another factor that may alleviate at least some of the cumbersome capital cases was the passage of SB 13 which gives prosecutors the option of seeking life without parole as an option without first seeking the death penalty.

Coping with cuts

Before the current fiscal year began, state legislators were already preparing for projected revenue shortfalls and talking about reworking the budget in a special session.

Legislators have indicating they’re starting with a $462.7-million deficit and nothing in the state’s “rainy day fund.”

Rep. Barbara Massey Reece, D-Menlo, said the legislature budgeted $18.6 billion for fiscal year 2010. “We already know it’s not going to be there,” she said.

Ninety percent of the state’s budget goes to education, health care, social services, public safety and transportation while the judiciary budget makes up less than one percent. Of that percentage point, around ninety percent of the budget is personnel costs. So a majority of the cuts come from travel expenses and reduced technology costs, Smith said.

Last month, Gov. Sonny Perdue worked out a deal with the state Judicial Council to hold back 25 percent of what agencies were appropriated for June in order to balance the budget going into FY 2010.

Smith said the legislature has to take a “big picture” view of when determining budget allocation. The likelihood of further cuts to the judiciary will be determined by state tax revenues.

“If revenues continue to decline every state agency will have to continue to make reductions in their budget,” Smith said.

“It’s a pretty complex problem,” Smith said. “When you talk to an individual agency, each can present a compelling case as to why the revenue shortfall and associated funding cuts have caused them major problems in fulfilling their service delivery to Georgians.”