A Nashville judge is weighing a request to allow a private attorney to handle the death penalty case against Lorenzo Jenkins.
The request from the public defender’s office comes as the state is pushing to begin executing condemned inmates again.
Assistant Public Defender Mike Engle told Criminal Court Judge Randall Wyatt Jr. last week that the Nashville public defender’s office lacks the resources to take on another death penalty case, which on average takes 2,000 hours of preparation.