In September, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court named a veteran Philadelphia judge, Benjamin Lerner, to investigate the compelling accusation of a Philadelphia-based death-penalty defense group that the courts are scrimping on justice by shortchanging the poor in capital cases.
That's a welcome and overdue step by the Supreme Court - a point driven home even more by an Inquirer review of death-penalty cases published Sunday.
In nearly one out of every three capital convictions stretching back over three decades, the courts have reversed or sent cases back for new hearings due to inadequate representation.
With so many botched legal defenses, no Pennsylvanian can be assured that the state's system of capital punishment is being administered fairly.
Judge Lerner has been given a short timetable to conduct an inquest into the claims raised by the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation that Philadelphia's fees for court-appointed counsel, in particular, are less "than any remotely comparable jurisdiction in the country."
The likely remedy appears to be pretty clear-cut: Increase attorney fees, which also should expand the pool of qualified lawyers who would be willing to take on these assignments.
Better yet, Pennsylvania should follow New Jersey's example and scrap the death penalty altogether.
That's the right thing to do, and it's also a far less costly means of assuring that the outcome of murder trials is just, and that the punishment for first-degree murder - life without parole - is a certainty, providing needed closure for victims' families.
