Monday Musings: Gideon Of A Public Defender

Clarence Earl Gideon

INTRODUCTION

Well, hello there! My name is (Clarence Earl) Gideon and I’m the 2006 Public Defender Blogger Award winner just another public defender blogger. In terms of the blawgosphere, I’d be a robust 30 right about now. Not like the seasoned sages, but not young enough to strike the keys and expect the world to change. Being a public defender is one of the best jobs one can have in the legal system – aside from, say, Supreme Court justice. No, don’t scoff. I mean it!

When I was applying to law schools, I had made up my mind. I wanted to be a public defender. Criminal law is the most exciting field of law. Most of the rest (no offense) is not exactly riveting. During my second year, I had the opportunity to take the Appellate Criminal Clinic (and then the Trial Clinic in my third year) and it further cemented my conviction. Kids, if you’re reading (and you’re in law school), take a clinic! Best thing you could do in law school and it will make those three years worthwhile!

So now, more than a few years after graduating, I’m firmly entrenched (I hope. Employer, if you’re reading this – please don’t fire me! I work, I promise!) and loving every second of it. Going back to my “point”, there is nothing more important that one can do today than be a public defender (or criminal defense attorney). There is not a single more important document in this country than The Constitution and it is our job to enforce it and to protect the rights of everyone. For today’s public defender (or prosecutor) could be tomorrow’s criminal defendant.

Okay. I’ll get off the horse now.

When did you start a public defender?

The blog has gone through a few incarnations. I started blawging sometime in 2004, if my memory serves me well. I had been a blogger for long before that (since 2000), but that was back in my “I’m the next best thing to happen to intellectual/existentialist thinking” phase.

“a public defender” was created in October of 2004, only because I like new shiny objects and typepad seemed better than blogger (One is free, one is not. Question the wisdom of that all you want). A public defender met with moderate success and thus far I’ve had just around 58, 822 page views – and no, my visits are not logged.

However, the shine wore off, so now I’m moving to a brand new site, with a brand new address (Hint, hint.): http://apublicdefender.com

Is there any significance to having your blog’s title in all lowercase letters?

I wish there was. I’m not that smart. Norm Pattis (who is a co-author at Crime and Federalism), however, gave me some brownie points for displaying modesty by using small letters instead of capital letters.

For me, it was just the aesthetics.

What inspired you to start the blog?

What I suspect is the reason most others started to blog: a desire to belong to the community. The public defender community (and the criminal defense bar in general) is a relatively small community and much maligned. Not that we need re-affirmation, but it is always encouraging to interact with others in the same position as you. It makes me feel like part of the family to come home and open my reader and look at all the pd posts. Victories, losses, tough clients, evil prosecutors (or even good prosecutors), judges deny motions and judges that grant motions: we all have them. The commiseration is what drives the blawging community in a sense and I couldn’t wait to be a part of it.

That and Michael Ross.

Has the focus of the blog changed since you began? (And if so, how?)

I’m not quite sure if the blog really has a focus, even now. Generally, I focus on criminal law news and opinions from around the Constitution State and the country. However, I have discovered that Connecticut is a really slow news state. Not much that’s newsworthy happens here. Sure we have awkward decisions from the Supreme Court and a sensational murder here or there (even an execution), but that’s about it. So I have to look elsewhere to fill the pages, otherwise readers will leave. Yes, you! I know who you are.

In all seriousness, I post about whatever strikes my fancy and tickles me. Like this post about the playboy hullabaloo at Vanderbilt. My only point in posting that was to share the fact that their student newspaper is called “The Vanderbilt Hustler”. You can’t get more juvenile than that.

Recently, however, I have noticed that I’ve become completely engrossed in the sex offender mania gripping the nation. I can’t take my eyes off the trainwreck of legislation that is being passed all over the country. So a lot of my recent posts have focused on that particular topic.

With the new website, my goal is to attempt to focus myself and provide some useful information to visitors. I often see referrals with key words like “CT public defenders”. Now that’s obviously someone looking for the CT PD website. I don’t have a link, however, which is quite stupid. So that’s the kind of thing I’m going to focus on in the coming weeks – streamlining the site, adding useful links, updating recent decisions and my grand project (if I ever get motivated enough): a public defender wiki.

Have you always practiced in Connecticut, and what is the state of indigent defense in the Constitution State?

Indeed I have always practiced in Connecticut and I constantly say how glad I am that I practice here. From what I have seen and read (and obviously my own personal experience), Connecticut has one of, if not the, best public defender systems in the country. Last year, the budget was in the vicinity of $36million and there are about 200 attorneys hired full-time. There is a centralized Office of the Chief Public Defender and then various sub-offices at each and every courthouse. Most courts are split up into two parts: Part A and Part B (also called the Judicial District and the Geographical Area courts). There is a public defender office for each J.D. and each G.A. Each office has anywhere from 3-15 attorneys. On top of that, we have three specialized units that don’t operate out of a specific courthouse: The Legal Services Unit (Appellate), The Habeas Corpus Unit and the Capital Defense Unit. I believe either the PD system in general or the Capital Unit specifically received some sort of national recognition award a year or two ago. Almost all offices are more than adequately staffed. This was not always, the case, however. It is my understanding that in the last decade there was an ACLU lawsuit against the State to provide better staffing and funding for the public defender’s office – sort of like what is going on in Michigan right now – which lead to this wholesale expansion. A quick glance at the pd website reveals the following:

Connecticut has actually had a statewide public defender system (the first in the country) since 1917, consisting at that time of a single public defender appointed by the Judges of the Superior Court in each of the eight counties. Although the number of such public defenders increased over the years, we remained under the control of the judges until Public Act 74-317 (An Act Concerning A Public Defender Services Commission) established the Division as a separate and autonomous agency on October 1, 1975.

In 1995 the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU brought suit against the new Governor and the Public Defender Services Commission for alleged failure to adequately fund public defender services. Cited in the complaint were excessive caseloads, lack of resources and inadequacy of compensation for special public defenders. In the intervening years, significant progress was made toward addressing these issues, as well as achieving many additional goals. (Rivera v. Rowland, et. al.)

In 1999 a settlement agreement was reached in Rivera. When all was said and done, $6.8 million and 55 additional new positions had been added to our budget. The Commission adopted a variety of new policies, including Caseload Goals, training requirements and minimum qualifications for special public defenders. The position of Director of Special Public Defenders was established and, for the first time in 15 years, special public defender compensation rates were increased. Training programs were significantly expanded and enhanced, and computer resources swelled throughout the Division. In consideration of all of these enhancements, the CCLU withdrew its lawsuit on August 3, 1999.

So, yeah. It’s a pretty darn good public defender system.

You have a photo of Clarence Gideon as your image on the blog, and of course you use the name Gideon. What does Gideon mean to you and to the blog?

Gideon means everything, not only to me and the blog, but to public defenders every where (or at least he should). As everyone probably knows, Gideon established the principle that all criminal defendants be given access to representation, regardless of whether they can afford it.

This is how we came about. Public Defender systems are, generally speaking, a product of Gideon. Gideon ensures that no criminal defendant shall ever be forced to represent himself (which he would undoubtedly do rather poorly) and it also forces the State to do their best to meet their burden of proof. I shudder to think what would happen if Gideon were somehow reversed and all the indigent defendants were left to fend for themselves.

Gideon is not only a landmark decision, but it also underlines one of the very fundamental principles of a functioning democracy: Equal treatment for all.

The PD Stuff Five Questions

If you weren’t an attorney, what other job would you like to try and why?

I know exactly what I’d do if I weren’t a lawyer. I’d go back to theater. I did a lot of theater in college and a bit after and were it not for the L word, I’d still be doing it. None of this movie nonsense. No takes and re-takes and learning only 2 pages of lines. Theater is the real thing. It is raw and it is naked. Only you and the audience. There’s nothing more empowering or moving than that.

Best moment on the job?

I’d say it’s a mix of a few: Winning the first case, the thank you letters from clients, the successful resolutions out of court. Pretty much every moment where I can say – I helped someone.

Worst moment on the job?

When you help a client, get him a favorable deal, he avoids prison only to find out that three months later he’s back in on something else. Gets me every time.

If Heaven exists, what do you think God will say to you when you arrive?

I have absolutely no idea, but I wouldn’t mind if he/she said “Do you want to go back?”

If you could only pick one, who is your hero/heroine?

Superman. Batman’s got nothing on him.

Thank you, Gideon, for joining us here at PD Stuff.

Next week’s guest isn’t a public defender: Kevin Davis is the journalist who wrote Defending the Damned: Inside the Cook County Public Defender’s Office. The book’s official publication date is the day after his appearance here at Monday Musings, and I’m frantically reading the book in preparation for his interview (my boss “borrowed” my advance copy and I only recently got it back). If you have any questions you’d like me to consider for Kevin’s interview, please email them to me.