Judge set to hear torture-slaying suspect Letalvis Cobbins' complaints about lawyer
Cobbins says his lawyer not 'enthusiastic'By Jamie Satterfield
Posted November 15, 2012 at 5 a.m.
A judge is set to decide next week torture-slayings suspect Letalvis Cobbins' bid to fire his taxpayer-funded attorney because he claims the attorney is not representing him with "enthusiastic and diligent devotion."
In a handwritten motion, Cobbins criticizes court-appointed attorney Kim Parton for failing to keep him informed about his case and for not filing various motions he has asked her to file.
"I, Letalvis Cobbins, the defendant seek to dismiss my court-appointed counsel due to the fact she is not working in my best interest," Cobbins wrote. "The attorney that has been appointed to me is not and has not been representing me with enthusiastic and diligent devotion."
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In a bid to fight the retrial order, the state Attorney General's Office earlier this year persuaded the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals to remove the judge who made the retrial decision, Senior Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood. Blackwood has been replaced by Senior Judge Walter Kurtz.
Kurtz has set a Nov. 20 hearing on Cobbins' motion for the appointment of a new attorney.
Kurtz has several options: He can deny the motion. He can appoint a new attorney, or he can require Cobbins to either accept Parton's services or to represent himself.
Because Cobbins initially faced the death penalty, he was appointed two attorneys for his 2009 trial — Parton and Scott Green. He proved a difficult client, taking the witness stand over Green's objections.
A Davidson County jury, tapped because of pretrial publicity in Knox County, rejected death and sentenced Cobbins to life without parole. Green then stepped away from the case.
Cobbins has been complaining about Parton ever since, so much so she also has asked to be removed.
...more at linkhttp://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/nov/1 ... cts-about/