Court revives appeal filed after deadline

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed itself yesterday and revived a death row inmate's appeal that had been denied for being filed one day late.

Keith Thurmond's attorney, Mr. Jerome Godinich (yes, that Jerome Godinich), blamed his late filing on the court's broken fax machine, a claim at which prosecutors scoffed. Ironically enough, one of Mr. Godinich's previous clients was executed when his appeal was denied because... drum roll, please... the appeal was filed one day late because of... here it comes... a broken fax machine.

When asked, Mr. Thurmond said he hadn't spoken with his attorney in months and figured the appeal was hopeless.

The Chronicle noted that Mr. Godinich was "one of the county's busiest court-appointed attorneys."