The court reduced the fee awarded to George Schaefer of Gainesville for representing Bennie Demps after his death warrant was signed in 2000. Schaefer's fees were reduced from $26,180 to $14,220.

Schaefer had been awarded the higher figure by Circuit Judge Larry Turner of Bradford County, who ruled the $100 limit was unconstitutional.

Schaefer sought $200 an hour for the 131 hours he spent on Demps' case before he was executed, contending the $100 set in statute for those on the registry of lawyers willing to represent Death Row inmates was too low in cases where a warrant has been signed and time before the execution is short.

"It is unlikely that competent registry attorneys, in the future, would agree to represent a Death Row inmate who is scheduled to be executed within a week of appointment at a confiscatory hourly rate of compensation in the amount of $100," Schaefer said in a brief filed with the court.

The Supreme Court also rejected a claim by Bill Salmon, another attorney for Demps, for a higher rate of compensation and approved a fee of $18,483.

Fees awarded to Stephen Bernstein, who represented Salmon in a hearing on the fee dispute and attorneys Robert Harper and William Sheppard, who testified as expert witnesses for Salmon, were voided by the court, which said there was no statutory authority for the payments.

Bernstein was set to receive $6,250, Harper was originally awarded $2,700 and Sheppard's fee was $2,706.

Schaefer said there is an inherent conflict of interest in Florida's system of compensation because the executive branch is seeking to carry out executions while at the same time setting the pay of the defense attorneys.

AP-ES-04-03-03 1845EST