Capital Litigation Statewide Trainings

The purpose of the Capital Case Litigation Initiative (CCLI) is to provide high-quality training and technical assistance on death penalty issues to prosecutors and defense counsel who litigate death penalty cases. This program focuses on ensuring quality representation in death penalty cases and trials. The goals of CCLI are to increase the number of capital litigation attorneys trained in death penalty cases, and to ensure that defense counsel and prosecutors have the most up-to-date and comprehensive information available to them on death penalty litigation.

The Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) will utilize the CCLI grant funds to train defense counsel and prosecutors. CJCC will contract with the Georgia Capital Defender (GCD) and the Prosecuting Attorney's Council of Georgia (PAC) for each to provide one three-day training on capital case litigation. The GCD training for defense attorneys will focus on trial skills and voir dire, while the PAC training for prosecutors will focus on trial skills and the penalty phase of trial. CJCC will also pay a consultant to attend the two trainings and evaluate each training program. Lastly, the award will be used to pay administrative costs to include personnel and fringe benefits of staff, office supplies, and the travel costs for staff to attend the two conferences and assist with registration and other logistics. With this award, training will be offered to 100 prosecutors working in District Attorney Offices in Georgia and 85 trial defense team members (including attorneys, mitigation specialists, and fact investigators) on capital case litigation.

CA/NCF