By BURTON SPEAKMAN
GLASGOW — Steve Nunn may have to find a new attorney prior to being tried for the alleged murder of his former fiancée.
Astrida Lemkins, a Lexington attorney, who is currently representing Nunn, has confirmed to other media outlets that she has never handled a death penalty case in her career.
Nunn, 56, is being charged with murder and violating a Ky. EPP/DVO in Fayette County and six counts of first-degree wanton endangerment in Hart County. He is accused of shooting and killing 29-year-old Amanda Ross. Ross was found shot on Sept. 11 outside her Lexington townhouse and she died a short time later. Last March, Ross charged Nunn struck her multiple times in her face during a February altercation in her home and Nunn was placed under a domestic violence order.
Lemkins has already made several comments regarding the case that have been considered controversial.
“If there does turn out to be a relationship between the death of Amanda Ross and Steve Nunn, it is not because the DVO failed, but rather because the DVO was issued,” said Lemkins.
Lemkins said Ross should have also been held accountable for her role in the domestic violence incident.
“Things are not black and white,” she said. “There’s a lot of gray in there.”
Lemkin also told the press following Nunn’s initial hearing in the wanton endangerment charges in Hart County that Nunn would be released. That was before the murder charge was filed.
Lemkins said Nunn's bond for the wanton endangerment charges was high.
“I’ve never heard anything so high, especially for something so questionable,” and said the judge is “off the wall.”
There are no rules in Kentucky as far as what qualifications an attorney needs to handle a death-penalty case, said Judge Phil Patton, circuit judge for Barren and Metcalfe counties.
“The constitution guarantees a person the right to the counsel of their choosing,” he said.
The Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy does have a good system for training its attorneys to handle death penalty cases.
The DPA has extensive training that its attorneys undergo before they are assigned a death penalty case, said Damon Preston, trial division director for DPA.
The training includes things like jury selection and anything else in a case that differs in a capital case from other cases, he said.
The DPA follows the guidelines for capital cases that are prescribed by the American Bar Association.
Those recommendations include a team approach, which means having at least two defense attorneys to handle the case.
“The prosecution commits vast resources to its effort to prove the defendant guilty of capital murder. The defense must both subject the prosecution’s evidence to searching scrutiny and build an affirmative case of its own,” according to the ABA guidelines.
The training recommended for attorney in capital cases from the ABA is as follows:
• Relevant state, federal, and international law
• Pleading and motion practice
• Pretrial investigation, preparation, and theory development regarding guilt/innocence and penalty;
• Jury selection
• Trial preparation and presentation, including the use of experts
• Ethical considerations particular to capital defense representation
• Preservation of the record and of issues for post-conviction review
• Counsel’s relationship with the client and his family
• Post-conviction litigation in state and federal courts
• The presentation and rebuttal of scientific evidence, and developments in mental health fields and other relevant areas of forensic and biological science
• The unique issues relating to the defense of those charged with committing capital offenses when under the age of 18.
The ABA recommends this training be completed every two years.
Greg Vincent, Edmonson County attorney and president of the Kentucky County Attorney’s Association, said that in cases like Nunn’s, it is important to make sure the defense attorney is capable of handling a case.
“The first thing is as a prosecutor you don’t want to try this case again, but the second thing is as prosecutors our job is not just to get convictions, our job is to seek justice,” he said.
No prosecutor wants to get a conviction because the defense attorney was not capable of handling the work going on in the case, Vincent said.
“If I was the prosecutor and I believe the defense couldn’t handle the case, I would make a request to the judge to appoint competent co-counsel,” he said.
Experienced co-counsel would help a less experienced attorney to handle a capital case, Vincent said.
The DPA has not been contacted at this time about the Nunn case, Preston said.
“We certainly are aware of the case. We always follow any case that is capital eligible,” he said. “There’s always a chance that someone believes they can hire an attorney, but they learn about the cost.”
The DPA will not get involved in the case unless appointed and Nunn would first need to qualify for public defense, Preston said.
“Someone very qualified needs to handle this case,” he said.
Preston confirmed that Lemkins had worked for the DPA for a few years as an appellate attorney, handling appeals cases.
Attempts to contact Lemkins were unsuccessful. The listed number for her office has a full voicemail and messages cannot be left.
Nunn is scheduled to be in court in Lexington Friday morning for a preliminary hearing.
Associated Press reports contributed to this article.
