Indigent defense news, delivered fresh daily

From NPR:

Public defenders protect the constitutional rights of poor defendants charged with crimes. But they’re overworked and under-respected. Farai Chideya speaks with Rick Jones — deputy director of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (NDS) — and Brian Wait, Senior Public Defender in the Orange County Public Defender’s Office.

Listen to the story there

Here are the new public defender blog posts:

a public defender
A Public Defender’s Life in Alaska
A Year in the Life
Abolish the Death Penalty
Accident Prone
Arbitrary and Capricious
Between A Laugh And A Tear
Cook County Public Defenders Blog
Defense Newsletter Blog
Demonstrative Evidence
Existing as a Public Defender
Fifth Circuit Blog
Fourth Circuit Blog
Go West Young Tex
the imbroglio
Indefensible
Indignant Indigent
Infinity Ranch
Ipse Dixit
Jay
Kansas Defenders
Kansas Federal Defender
Kindness and Justice
Knit and the City
lawbabeak
Ninth Circuit Blog
Of a Public Defender’s Life
Overemotional Arguing
Preaching to the Choir
Rabid Sanity
Scoplaw
Second Circuit Blog
Sixth Circuit Blog
Swan Lake Samba Girl
Tales of a Public Defender Investigator
Tenth Circuit Blog
The Rural Bus Route
The Saucy Vixen on Life
The Underblawg
Third Circuit Blog
Woman in Black

Here are the new public defender blog posts:

a public defender
A Public Defender’s Life in Alaska
Arbitrary and Capricious
Between A Laugh And A Tear
Cook County Public Defenders Blog
Curia Advisari Vult
Doubtslinger
Go West Young Tex
imapd
the imbroglio
Indignant Indigent
Infinity Ranch
Ipse Dixit
Kansas Defenders
Kansas Federal Defender
lawbabeak
Ninth Circuit Blog
Overemotional Arguing
Rabid Sanity
Scoplaw
Swan Lake Samba Girl
Tenth Circuit Blog
The Rural Bus Route
The Saucy Vixen on Life
Woman in Black

Over the last week or so, we lost a pd blog (and almost lost another). The Bardd Before The Bar said goodbye to posting, after being dooced. (Look it up, if you’re interested.)

Woman in Black also quit, but the lure of blogging was too much and she’s back.

It’s always sad when a pd decides to stop blogging, but such is the reality of life and not all pd offices are understanding about blogs. We here at PD Stuff wish The Bardd all the best with everything.

Here are the new public defender blog posts:

A Daddy, a Mommy, and a Tater Tot
a public defender
A Public Defender’s Life in Alaska
A Year in the Life
Abolish the Death Penalty
Accident Prone
Arbitrary and Capricious
Between A Laugh And A Tear
Curia Advisari Vult
Defense Newsletter Blog
Doubtslinger
The Dream Antilles
Fifth Circuit Blog
Fight ‘Em ‘Til We Can’t
Fourth Circuit Blog
Go West Young Tex
I Defend The Accused
the imbroglio
Indefensible
Infinity Ranch
Ipse Dixit
Jay
Kansas Defenders
Kansas Federal Defender
Knit and the City
lawbabeak
Ninth Circuit Blog
Overemotional Arguing
Preaching to the Choir
Rabid Sanity
Scoplaw
Second Circuit Blog
Sixth Circuit Blog
Swan Lake Samba Girl
Tales of a Public Defender Investigator
Tenth Circuit Blog
The Rural Bus Route
The Saucy Vixen on Life
The Underblawg
Woman in Black
Woman of the Law

From public defender blogger Ipse Dixit:

Today, a bar panel attorney was trying to plea down a case, but when asked for the maximum sentence, she did not know what it was. The judge, the prosecutor, the attorney, none of them knew. They all start flipping through the Penal Code trying to find it. The judge looks up and sees me, a look of relief washes over his face, “Oh, Ms. Ipse Dixit, can you tell us the maximum exposure on this charge?” I give him the answer. They all stop looking through the code.

Read the entire post

From public defender blogger imapd:

A prosecutor came in my office the other day and expressed shock at the fact that I was  pulling cases from Lexis and reading caselaw. “What are you doing that for?,” demanded the grumpy old prosecutor, “No one here follows the law anyway!” He snickered knowingly and went on embarrassing himself.  “You know, if we followed all the rules, the system would come to a grinding halt!” He stood there in my doorway, as if he was waiting for me to fold up my books and just go home.

“I have a lot to learn,” I replied vaguely, wishing he would get the eff out of my office.

With a patronizing snort, he squinted his eyes at me and proceeded to insult me. “You know…the two people in the room who never know the rules are judges and defense attorneys.” He paused and stared me down. I waited for him to say that he was just joking, or to admit that his effing prosecutors were the ones who didn’t know ass from subsection. He didn’t back down, of course, so I sat there, staring back into his wrinkled, belligerent face until he wandered out of my office looking for someone else to browbeat with the myths that make his career worthwhile…Only a prosecutor could trespass into the new PD’s office to intimidate her with his shocking commitment to ignoring the law at the expense of our “guilty-as-soon-as-they-walk-in-the-door” clients.

Read the entire post

From public defender blogger Between A Laugh And A Tear:

10. Most of your accomplishments are invisible and not attributed to you.

Most clients and their families do not understand that a lot what goes on in a criminal case is outside the courtroom. From the legal research, the investigation, the plea negotiations, the formulation of the defense, drafting motions, getting witnesses to court, these are things that clients do not see first hand. Also, even with all the hard work that you put into a case, you are not given credit for it. Usually, the client is bitter that it took so long for the world to see their innocence or they attribute it to divine intervention or to some other reason. It couldn’t have been you. You are a just a public pretender. You work for the state. Yeah, right.

8. You are an all-knowing expert on every aspect of the law, both criminal and civil.

I have been asked about estate planning, corporate law, family law, and almost everything in between. Look, I am a criminal defense attorney. Don’t ask me about how to fight a child support order, how to do a divorce or some other civil crap. If I liked that kind of law, I would be doing it, and not defending your ass.

7. Your Talents are Forcibly Unvalued and Compensated.

Most taxpayers resent our presence in the first place (until they need us). So, they have no problem paying us a small penance and handle a large caseload. Hell, they are all guilty anyway; so why bother work on a case? Well, jackass, while I have serve reservations about my clients’ ability to be truthful, that does not relieve me of my professional duty to investigate the case and force the State to live up to their obligation to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Read the entire post

Here are the new public defender blog posts:

a public defender
A Public Defender’s Life in Alaska
A Year in the Life
Abolish the Death Penalty
Accident Prone
Arbitrary and Capricious
The Bardd Before The Bar
Between A Laugh And A Tear
Cook County Public Defenders Blog
Curia Advisari Vult
Defense Newsletter Blog
Doubtslinger
The Dream Antilles
Fifth Circuit Blog
Fight ‘Em ‘Til We Can’t
Fourth Circuit Blog
Go West Young Tex
I Defend The Accused
imapd
the imbroglio
Indefensible
Infinity Ranch
Ipse Dixit
Kansas Defenders
Kansas Federal Defender
lawbabeak
Ninth Circuit Blog
Overemotional Arguing
Preaching to the Choir
Rabid Sanity
Scoplaw
Second Circuit Blog
Sixth Circuit Blog
Swan Lake Samba Girl
Tales of a Public Defender Investigator
Tenth Circuit Blog
The Rural Bus Route
The Underblawg

There’s a new public defender blog that I have recently become aware of. Written by Chris Fabrican, a NYC public defender, it is called “Busted! Drug War Survival Skills“. Here’s a recent entry:

Most of the jurors glanced at Mr. R as they walked out of the courtroom. I put my arm around his shoulder and tried to read their expressions, but it’s impossible to tell if the looks are pity or disgust or indifference. Maybe they’re not so different than the looks people give — or avoid giving — the homeless asking them for change on the street, but much as they may want to ignore Mr. R in the same way, they will decide his fate.

None of them know how much time he’s facing. Right now, there is no “lesser included offense” of simple possession, which is what he is guilty of. (We will be fighting about that with the judge tomorrow morning.) Our fear is that the jury will feel like it will be doing Mr. R a favor by sending him to jail, just to detox. We have to make them understand that state prison is not rehab.

And our last chance is Monday, closing arguments….

…one way or another, the end is near.

I have added the blog to the blogroll. Unfortunately, there is no RSS feed, so it may be a while before I start adding it to the daily posts.

Here are the new public defender blog posts:

a public defender
A Year in the Life
Arbitrary and Capricious
The Bardd Before The Bar
Cook County Public Defenders Blog
The Dream Antilles
Fifth Circuit Blog
Fourth Circuit Blog
Infinity Ranch
Kansas Federal Defender
Knit and the City
Ninth Circuit Blog
Swan Lake Samba Girl
The Rural Bus Route
The Underblawg

Here are the new public defender blog posts:

a public defender
A Public Defender’s Life in Alaska
A Year in the Life
Arbitrary and Capricious
The Bardd Before The Bar
Defense Newsletter Blog
Doubtslinger
The Dream Antilles
Fifth Circuit Blog
Florida Criminal Lawyer
Fourth Circuit Blog
Go West Young Tex
the imbroglio
Indefensible
Infinity Ranch
Ipse Dixit
Kansas Defenders
Kansas Federal Defender
Knit and the City
lawbabeak
Of a Public Defender’s Life
Scoplaw
Second Circuit Blog
Swan Lake Samba Girl
Tales of a Public Defender Investigator
Tenth Circuit Blog
The Rural Bus Route
Third Circuit Blog
Woman in Black

Here are the new public defender blog posts:

a public defender
A Year in the Life
Abolish the Death Penalty
Arbitrary and Capricious
The Bardd Before The Bar
Between A Laugh And A Tear
Cook County Public Defenders Blog
Curia Advisari Vult
The Dream Antilles
Florida Criminal Lawyer
I Defend The Accused
Infinity Ranch
Jay
Knit and the City
lawbabeak
Mark Corwin Bruce
Petition for Review
Second Circuit Blog
Swan Lake Samba Girl
Tenth Circuit Blog
The Rural Bus Route

From the Palm Beach Post:

Palm Beach County’s criminal justice system is in crisis as arrest rates soar and legislators are set to slash millions to the lawyers and court system that must process the cases, State Attorney Barry Krischer said Thursday.

Krischer, speaking before a group from Leadership Palm Beach County, depicted the 10 percent budget cut currently bandied about by legislators as an inevitability.

“On July 1, I will not be able to make payroll in my office without laying off an additional 12 attorneys,” Krischer told the group.

Already, he has dismantled four key specialized units in his office which prosecuted economic crimes, crimes against children and the elderly and felony domestic violence cases. Those highly specialized prosecutors, who understood sophisticated DNA techniques for rape cases or forensic accounting for fraud cases, have been reassigned to help cover the crush of filed crimes, expected to hit 20,000 this year, he said.

“I cannot provide public safety. I cannot adequately represent victims if I don’t have trained, experienced lawyers in the courtroom and they are slowly but surely moving out of the office,” Krischer said.

Public Defender Carey Haughwout also spoke of the budget cut’s impact her office, which provides lawyers for the poor. Haughwout portended at some point this year standing up in court and refusing to accept new cases. She has a constitutional and ethical duty to do so, she said.

“I can’t have a lawyer handling 200 or 300 felony cases. That’s a joke to say that’s effective representation. We’re not going to cover-up and just make do,” Haughwout said.

The current budget cut will eliminate substance abuse education and treatment in prison, where as much as 80 percent of crimes committed are related to drugs, she said. “It’s nuts as far as I’m concerned.”

A full third of the crimes in felony courts today were misdemeanors a decade ago, she said, including some drivers license crimes. Florida now leads the nation in per capita incarceration, she said. “We have this system in place, and we cannot afford it anymore,” she said.

Read the entire story

From WAVE (TV):

The very real impact of a bare bones budget is beginning to be felt all around Kentucky. The latest group to face possible layoffs is the state’s public defenders. If you think this is a concern only to criminals, WAVE 3’s Janelle MacDonald says think again.

The Department of Public Advocacy announced this week that because of a $2.5 million budget cut in the next fiscal year, it is cutting 54 jobs — many of them attorneys. Those are the public defenders who are already handling some of Kentuckiana’s most high-profile cases. Lawyers who are an essential part of the justice system.

Gail Coontz, Cecil New and Said Biyad. Imagine being responsible for their entire legal defense. Now add to that hundreds of other cases each year and you begin to get the picture of the job of a public defender. Rebecca Murrell is a public defender in Bullitt, Nelson and Spencer Counties.

“It’s going to be right around 450 cases. Almost all my entire caseload is a felony caseload,” says Murrell

That is far above the American Bar Association’s national standard of 310 cases per lawyer. With expected cuts, Murrell’s caseload — and that of other public defenders — is only expected to get worse.

“You can’t render effective assistance of counsel as required by the constitution and that would lead little alternative but to turn away cases,” Murrell says.

Read the entire story