Defense attorney Frankie Walker ll talks to the news media about how the proceedings went for his client, Keith Jordan Lambing, during his hearing at the Butler County Courthouse on Thursday. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Lambing.

The Butler County Public Defender's Office said it is qualified and ready to pick up the possible death penalty case against a Butler man, in the event that his private attorney is no longer retained.

Keith Jordan Lambing, 20, who is charged with homicide and sex offenses in the death of a 4-year-old boy, is represented by Pittsburgh attorney Frankie Walker II.

Walker said Thursday following the preliminary hearing regarding the homicide case, where charges were bound over to county court, that he is death-penalty certified and qualified in Pennsylvania.

District Attorney Richard Goldinger stated that the commonwealth will be seeking the death penalty in this case.

According to Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, “in all cases in which the attorney for the commonwealth has filed a Notice of Aggravating Circumstances pursuant to Rule 802, before an attorney may participate in any stage of the case either as retained or appointed counsel, the attorney must meet the educational and experiential criteria set forth in this rule.”

Those qualifications include being an active trial practitioner with a minimum of five years of criminal litigation experience in good standing with the state bar and having served as lead or co-counsel in a minimum of eight significant cases that were given to the jury for deliberations.

“A 'significant case' for purposes of this rule is one that charges murder, manslaughter, vehicular homicide or a felony for which the maximum penalty is 10 or more years,” the statute states.

Qualifications also include a minimum of 18 hours of training in relevant statues as approved by the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board.

Walker, according to his website, opened his law firm in 2011, after serving positions at other law firms and as thetrial attorney for the Allegheny Office of Conflict Counsel in Pittsburgh, representing defendants unable to be represented by the Allegheny County Office of the Public Defender due to a conflict of interest. he also worked on Act 33 juvenile cases, PCRA petitions, and appeals to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

On Thursday Walker said that while he is qualified, he would be in conversation with Lambing's family about being retained for further proceedings.

Lambing is also represented by the Public Defender's Office in three other matters, including an attempted escape from the Butler County Prison, a burglary charge and a probation violation matter, according to attorney Joseph Smith, who represents him in those pending matters.

Chief Public Defender Kevin Flaherty said in the event that Walker is not retained by Lambing's family to see the case through, the Public Defender's Office has two qualified attorneys, himself, and Charles Nedz, to pick it up.

“We have death-penalty qualified attorneys in office to do any work as needed,” Flaherty said.

Smith said the office is “exponentially qualified and experienced” and “extremely well qualified and well situated to handle cases” of this magnitude.

“We stand ready to take that homicide case,” he said.

Smith said this case is unique — as Lambing has private counsel defending him in the most extreme case, which involves the death penalty — and will wait to see if Walker is retained.

“We don't get many of these,” he said. “This level of case is rare in Butler County.”