A death row inmate is entitled to a new trial because...

A death row inmate is entitled to a new trial because his lawyer did not meet with him before his murder case went to trial, the state Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision that mandates such face-to-face meetings in capital cases. Defendant Billy Brooks, 45, received the death penalty in 1992 after being convicted of stabbing Eric Vaughn to death. Brooks and Vaughn were prisoners at Holmesburg Prison. At the start of trial, Brooks told the presiding judge he wished to represent himself because his court-appointed defense attorney, Thomas J. Turner III, had spoken with him just once, by phone, and did not respond to phone messages or letters. Brooks, also known as Larry Shavers, is currently in state prison in Greene County.