Robert Atkins looks around the courtroom as his two attorneys, Larwrence Brown, left, and Kelley Perkins Brown, right, wait for the judge so Attorney Lawrence Brown can ask to be removed from the case due to a conflict of interest. Ron Cockerille/Staff

Lead defense attorney withdraws, citing conflict

AIKEN - The lead defense attorney for Robert Atkins, who faces a death-penalty trial in connection with the killing of Aiken teenager Jessica Carpenter, withdrew from the case Monday to avoid the possibility of a conflict of interest.

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Aiken Public Safety Officers Clark Smith. left, and Nancy Kieltsch check the desk where Robert Atkins will be sitting for possible weapons before Atkins is brought into court Monday. Ron Cockerille/Staff Robert Atkins, right, listens as his court appointed attorney, LaLawrence Brown, left, requests to be removed from representing Atkins due to a possible conflict of interest Monday in Aken County Court as his other attorney Kelley Perkins Brown, center, listens. photo-ron cockerille 2/2/04 SCM Ron Cockerille/Staff

After consulting with the state attorney general's office and one of South Carolina's leading experts in legal ethics, court-appointed lawyer Lawrence Brown was allowed to withdraw from the high-profile case by General Sessions Court Judge Diane Goodstein. His departure will delay Mr. Atkins' trial until after a Barnwell County death-penalty case goes to court in April, said 2nd Circuit Solicitor Barbara Morgan.

Mr. Brown, who is in private practice in Aiken County, also serves as an assistant county attorney, dispensing legal advice to Aiken County officials, including Sheriff Mike Hunt. When Sheriff Hunt won office last year, he named Dwayne Courtney, a veteran Aiken Department of Public Safety investigator, as chief deputy. Deputy Courtney was the lead detective in Ms. Carpenter's homicide case, Mr. Brown said.

"I do have an actual conflict of interest in this matter that would require me to be removed as counsel," Mr. Brown told Judge Goodstein.

When Mr. Brown was appointed by the court, Deputy Courtney was still working for the Aiken Department of Public Safety, Ms. Morgan said.

"There was a change in the personnel at the sheriff's office where he would be giving advice to people who might be called to testify," she said.

The search for a replacement is complicated by the South Carolina Supreme Court's requirement that attorneys be certified to handle death-penalty cases.

In addition, the lead counsel has to have 10 years of experience in felony trials, including previous death-penalty cases.

Mr. Atkins' case is ready for trial and could have been held this week. However, after consulting with Dr. John Freeman, a professor at the University of South Carolina law school and a leading authority in legal ethics, Mr. Brown realized that he must withdraw.

Ms. Carpenter was raped and strangled Aug. 4, 2000. Mr. Atkins, a deliveryman working for an Airborne Express subcontractor, brought a package to Ms. Carpenter's house a few days before the killing, authorities have said. He was arrested in September 2002 after a DNA analysis.

After granting the motion, Judge Goodstein asked Mr. Atkins, who is considered an escape risk and is being held in the maximum security section of the Aiken County detention center, whether he understood the ruling.

"Basically," said Mr. Atkins, dressed in an orange-and-white jail jumpsuit and bound by handcuffs, a chain and leg manacles.

Reach Jim Nesbitt at (803) 648-1395

or jim.nesbitt@augustachronicle.com.

--From the Tuesday, February 3, 2004 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle