Carolyn King
In 1993, King and her boyfriend burglarized a home in Lebanon, Pa., suffocating the 74-year-old owner (Guy Goodman, a florist) with a plastic bag. They also kidnapped a Bismarck, N.D., woman and kept her in the trunk of their car for five days before shooting her in Nevada.
Carolyn King, currently on Death Row in Pennsylvania, was represented at trial by a lawyer who practiced family law at a small firm. The lawyer had handled only on previous trial – a drug case – and was not familiar with the death penalty statute. He conducted no mitigation investigation and was unaware that the sentencing hearing would be held immediately after the guilty verdict was returned. In post conviction proceedings, Carolyn challenged the constitutionality of her representation based on the fact that the trial judge had appointed a civil practitioner with no relevant experience or training as trial counsel and the county had failed to provide adequate standards and resources for appointed counsel. Her case is currently under consideration. In some cases attorneys did not raise issues of abuse at trial, even when there was independent evidence that such abuse had taken place. Carolyn King’s current lawyer alleged that her trial attorney had failed to discover or present evidence of a history of sexual abuse. Date of scheduled execution March 29, 2000 State Pennsylvania Sentencing Judge: Judge Robert Eby County: Lebanon
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