The wheels of justice are again turning for a Schuylkill County man on death row for a 1992 contract killing.

County commissioners this week approved fees for the lawyer who will defend Ronald G. Champney, who turns 64 today, at his new trial.A jury in November 1999 found Champney guilty of killing Roy Bensinger, 38, of North Manheim Township, with a single shotgun blast on June 4, 1992, as Bensinger stepped out of his pickup in the driveway of his home.Champney, whose vanity license plate read "1 SHOT," had bragged that he fired once into Bensinger's face with a .30-30 Winchester rifle he took from the victim's gun cabinet, according to police.Champney was scheduled to be executed on Nov. 30, 2004, but a federal judge halted his execution.In June 2008, President Judge William E. Baldwin ruled that errors made by Champney's lawyer, Marsha Chwastiak, likely landed him on death row, and ordered a new trial. The state Supreme Court last year upheld Baldwin's ruling.Baldwin wrote in his 54-page ruling that among his reasons for ordering a new trial were that Chwastiak should have challenged statements by police and worked harder to challenge prosecutors' key witness, David Blickley.Blickley was Bensinger's widow's ex-husband, whom Champney said paid for the killing.Schuylkill County Chief Public Defender Michael J. Stine on Wednesday said a Philadelphia group, the Federal Defenders, sought the new trial."We weren't responsible for him getting a new trial. We can't take credit for that," he said."The Federal Defenders employed a crime scene expert to analyze the way the commonwealth's star witness had characterized the way Champney had committed the murder, and the results of that scientific analysis were that he could not have committed it the way that the commonwealth's witness said he specifically committed it," he said."So there are some big factual issues that have come out many years after he was convicted," Stine said.The trial has yet to be scheduled, but Stine said his office is hoping it will be held in spring.The case moved forward as commissioners on Wednesday approved the fees for Champney's lead defense attorney.Kristin Weisenberger of Perry, Shore, Weisenberger and Zemlock of Harrisburg, will be paid a $12,000 retainer and $75 an hour for in-court time and $100 for out-of-court time.According to state law, two certified attorneys are required in the defense of people facing the death penalty.Weisenberger is certified by the state for death penalty cases, as is Andrea L. Thompson of the Schuylkill County Public Defenders office. The attorneys will each handle different phases of the trial.According to the agreement, the county will pay for any expert witnesses.Stine asked commissioners to approve Weisenberger's fees."You can never be prepared for a thing like this, where 15 years later, a person is granted a new trial and it's upheld by the appellate court so it's sent back to us," he said.Stine said that the state Attorney General Kathleen Kane is involved in the case, "so it really doesn't cost the county anything to prosecute; the state will take those costs.But the county, in essence, will be liable for the expense of the defense of the case."