Five out-of-state attorneys were given one-time permission Thursday to practice before the Arkansas Supreme Court as part of the legal team for a convicted murderer on death row.
The attorneys are all licensed to practice in New York or the District of Columbia, as well as other states and federal jurisdictions. They will represent Kenneth Reams, one of two men convicted as teens in the killing of a man during a robbery at a Pine Bluff ATM in 1993.
Reams, now 42, is appealing his conviction to the Arkansas Supreme Court, said his lawyer in Arkansas, state Rep. John Walker, D-Little Rock.
Walker said he's represented Reams for about 10 years, though he is not lead counsel on the appeal. Walker filed motions with the high court asking to allow each of the five attorneys to appear pro hac vice, Latin for "for this occasion only."
Two of the attorneys, Jin Hee Lee and Ajmel Quereshi, are from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in New York City. Another, Christopher Kemmitt, is from the NAACP offices in Washington, D.C. Two more, Corrine Irish and George Kendall, are from the law firm Squire Patton Boggs' New York offices.
Each of the attorneys sought a waiver of the $200 fee to appear pro hac vice, but the court denied each request in a series of one-paragraph orders. Justice Robin Wynne indicated he would have granted the fee waiver.
Justice Josephine Hart disagreed with her fellow justices in allowing the lawyers to appear before the court, though she did not explain her reasoning.
In a brief phone interview Thursday, Walker said his client is "innocent," but declined to outline the arguments that the lawyers would present on appeal.
According to Arkansas Democrat-Gazette archives, Reams was sentenced to death by a jury in 1993. Another man charged in the case, Alford Goodwin, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
A Section on 09/29/2017