Leslie M. Ribnik
Democrat
Posted on 02/27/2006 11:05:08 AM PST by Former Military Chick
(Feb. 26, 2006)--The court-appointed attorney who handled the death penalty appeal of condemned serial killer Angel Maturino Resendiz is being criticized for filing a nearly identical appeal for another death row inmate.
The Austin American-Statesman reported Sunday that Houston lawyer Leslie Ribnik wrote the virtually identical appeals for Maturino Resendiz and another condemned prisoner, Robert Gene Will.
Except for different names, the first 20 pages of both appeals are identical, including the same capitalization error on page 17.
The briefs, which center mostly on a single technical challenge to instructions given to Texas death-penalty juries, also give incorrect conviction dates for both men.
Ribnik has apologized for the mistakes but says the appeal argument is valid.
A new legal team for Maturino Resendiz has since replaced Ribnik, a criminal lawyer for 16 years.
Maturino Resendiz, the Mexican drifter dubbed the "Railroad Killer," remains on Texas death row and is scheduled to be executed on May 10 for raping and killing a Houston doctor.
He was named the "Railroad Killer" after being linked to 14 slayings in Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Illinois near the rail lines he rode nationwide.
He has claimed to have committed even more.
Among his alleged victims was a former Central Texas pastor and his wife.
Skip and Karen Sirnic were killed in Weimar.
Before moving there, they lived in Riesel, where Skip Sirnic pastored the Friedens United Methodist Church.
The man confessed and was convicted, and they still say alleged.
By using copied death penalty appeals, it doubles her hourly fee. I guess that makes her an entrepreneur as well as and unethical lawyer. :)
Wonder what her billing shows?
Does anyone really think that attorneys write up hundred-page-plus long briefs, motions, contracts, agreements etc. from scratch in a matter of days?
No, they consult the library of documents their firm has built up and then modify it.
"Hey, Tom, have you ever done a sale-leaseback taxation unwind agreement in which the lessor was a Dutch-domiciled limited partnership?"
"Sure have, Bill. You can find it in the Ouwerkerk file in the fall of '02. That should work."
Tom takes that agreement, checks up on any changes in the law that are pertinent since then, and makes any cosmetic changes necessary (different names, dates, dollar amounts) and maybe adds a rider to address changes in the law. Then he's done.
It's not cheating - it's called being efficient and not reinventing the wheel.
Leslie M. Ribnik
Democrat
I meant to say that the only wrong thing she did was to make mistakes of fact in the motion - the act of using someone else's motion as a template was not wrong and is commonplace.
Unless, of course, you bill for creating an entire document from scratch.
okdokie, but someone took issue with this and frankly if I were the client I would like to know and I would hope if I am spending big bux that the spelling were correct --- jmho
Correct.
Good points.
Of course, as far as big bux are concerned, death row criminals are getting exactly what they pay for with their court-appointed attorneys.
After I hit enter it dawned on me that whoa big bux aren't invovled in many DP cases, thanks for the reminder. I am glad you appreciated my points.
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