FIU Grant Will Train Lawyers Handling Capital Cases

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MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) – Florida International University's College of Law has received a $620,000 grant to help defense lawyers handling capital cases.

The grant, over the next two years, will allow FIU professors to offer consultations and train lawyers on how to properly represent someone facing the death penalty including jury selection, when to plea and how to preserve the record for appeal.

Florida has one of the highest rates in the nation in both the number of people sentenced to death and the number of executions.

FIU law students will learn first-hand how to manage capital punish cases and work alongside lawyers on pleadings, motions and interviewing witnesses.

The grant is from the Themis Fund, which is working to abolish the death penalty.

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