Rob Owen, representing Echols, told the Supreme Court justices that some evidence suggests Echols was incompetent to stand trial and a new hearing should be ordered in circuit court.
Assistant Attorney General David Raupp told justices that the request for a competency hearing should be denied because that issue was not raised during the trial or during any of the previous appeals. "The concern is finality" in state court, Raupp told the justices, suggesting that Echols might more appropriately broach the subject in federal appeals that would follow a final state Supreme Court ruling. The assistant attorney general also noted that "mentally ill people may be competent to stand trial, and that may have happened here."
Owen told the justices that Echols’ lawyers during the trial, Val Price and Scott Davidson, were negligent in their representation of Echols because they entered into a contract with HBO three weeks after the trial began and staged a strategy session for the film. "A lawyer has limited time and resources for trial,” Owen said. “The fact that some of the resources were diverted to play acting is the harm."
Assistant Attorney General Jeff Weber said there was no conflict of interest in the HBO filmmaking because Echols himself signed the contract, with his parents' approval. Assertions of harm to Echols was "just speculation," Weber said.