“Who, if not the helpless, should the law protect?”
—Pastor Paul Gerhard Braune
The Mission
Suzerain Capital Defense is committed to providing fervent defense to indigent individuals facing the death penalty, to alleviating the suffering of those persons and their loved ones during the legal process, and to challenging the stigmatic narrative associated with defendants the government seeks to execute.
The Need
Suzerain fills a seldom-discussed gap in death penalty cases: The government’s abject failure to fully fund a competent defense for those who cannot afford it.
Though our nation’s promise of “equal justice under law” guarantees a lawyer to those accused of crimes, the sad reality is that many individuals facing the death penalty are woefully underrepresented and, in some cases, not represented at all.
Where The System Fails
The deeply ingrained inequity in our criminal justice system has many causes: lack of adequate governmental funding, systemic and institutionalized racism and prejudice, and profound misunderstandings of the consequences of mental illness, substance abuse, and traumatic life experiences.
Suzerain’s Work
Suzerain provides a critical intervention, without which the individuals we serve would be denied the constitutional protections to which they are entitled.
Suzerain’s services include:
Direct Representation: We are formal members of the defense team representing the defendant in court.
Public Defender Assistance: We work behind the scenes to support the efforts of the lawyers who are providing direct representation.
Case Consultations: We offer two-day intensive in-person trainings for under-resourced capital defense teams.
Law Student Education: We teach law school students by having them work as interns on one of our cases.