TERRELL, Texas — Legal fees in Charles Brownlow’s capital murder defense amounted to a presumed cost of nearly $1.9 million, according to a letter from the Regional Public Defenders’ Office (RPDO) to Kaufman County Judge Bruce Wood which was released earlier today.
TERRELL, Texas — Legal fees in Charles Brownlow’s capital murder defense amounted to a presumed cost of nearly $1.9 million, according to a letter from the Regional Public Defenders’ Office (RPDO) to Kaufman County Judge Bruce Wood which was released earlier today.
Kaufman County saved nearly $1.3 million in presumed costs thanks to an inter-local agreement with the RPDO which was signed months before Brownlow was accused of going on an hours-long killing spree which left five people dead in 2013.
Brownlow was charged in the shooting deaths of his 61-year-old mother, Mary Brownlow, his 55-year-old aunt, Belinda Young Walker, 30-year-old Kelleye Pratt Sluder, Jason Michael Wooden, and 22-year-old Luis Gerardo Leal-Carillo.
In April 2016, a Kaufman County jury found Brownlow guilty of capital murder in the death of Leal-Carillo and, in May 2016, sentenced Brownlow to death.
$1,295,030.98 of the nearly $1.9 million defense represented presumed fees charged for two attorneys, one mitigation specialist, and one investigator from the RPDO.
RPDO Chief Public Defender Jack Stoffregen says the two attorneys representing Brownlow accumulated 7,059.9 combined hours for a total presumed cost of $955,625, at the mitigator accumulated 4,919.9 hours at a presumed cost of $295,194, and the investigator accumulated 1,673.6 hours at a presumed cost of $83,680.
The cost estimates are based on average attorney fees, according to Stroffregen, and, had Kaufman County not entered into the inter-local agreement with RPDO, the county would have likely paid that amount in-full for similar indigent defense representation.
The RPDO also incurred $80,080.52 in investigative costs, paid for by the RPDO, as well as $471,329.33 in expert witness fees which were billed to the county.
Wood says he will go before the Texas Indigent Defense Commission to seek a grant for all or a major portion of the $471,329.33 billed to the county for expert witnesses used by the defense. Wood says he will likely appear before the board in late August.
What is still to be determined are expert witness expenses incurred by the Kaufman County District Attorney’s Office, stated Wood.
“The $471-thousand is real money and money we have spent,” said Wood. “It has had a major impact on the county’s budget and thats the reason we will make a special request [with Texas Indigent Defense Commission.]”
“While I was disappointed in the sentence the jury returned, I was and am very proud of my staff for the incredible effort and expertise they consistently put forth,” stated Stoffregen who recently retired. “Our criminal justice system is only satisfied when a criminal defendant receives effective and competent representation; anything short of that will surely be returned to the trail court for a new trial, resulting in more costs to the county.”
“I am cognizant of the expense Kaufman County incurred in providing Mr. Brownlow the resources mandated to ensure that the defense team be able to retain those experts needed to effectively represent our client in accordance with our Constitutions, both federal and state,” stated Stoffregen.
Kaufman County entered into their inter-local agreement with the RPDO in October 2012. Prior to the agreement, Kaufman County had not tried a capital case in 20 years, according to Wood.
Wood says the inter-local agreement didn’t cost the county anything in its first year and is now budgeted for approximately $42,000 annually.
Just months after the county initially entered into the agreement, Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was gunned down in broad daylight as he walked from his car to the Kaufman County Courthouse. Two months later, Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were shot to death in their Forney-area home.
Former Kaufman County Justice of the Peace Eric Williams was found guilty in the shooting death of Cynthia McLelland and is now on death row and still stands charged but has yet to face trial in the shooting deaths of Hasse and Mike McLelland. Eric’s wife, Kim Williams, later went on to admit her roles in all three killings, calling Eric the trigger man, and received 40 years in prison.
Both Williams were also represented by the RPDO. Figures were not immediately available for the cost associated with the Williams’ trials but Wood says he believes the Brownlow trial exceeded those costs.
Although Wood says he is grateful for the agreement, he says its something he hopes Kaufman County never has to use again.
Brownlow currently sits on Death Row at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, Texas, which is the same unit where Williams is being held.
