State public defender council running out of money

From AccessNorthGA.com:

The statewide public defender council will run out of money to defend death penalty defendants by October and the mounting cost of defending courthouse shooting suspect Brian Nichols is among the main reasons why, a council official said.

The cost of defending Nichols, who is accused of killing a judge and three others, has already topped $1.8 million and is still rising, Sarah Haskin, the council’s managing deputy director, told a legislative oversight committee meeting Monday.

“We’re in dire straits,” Haskin said after the committee meeting.

And the rising costs mean the council will run out of money to defend Nichols and 21 other defendants.

This month, the council will begin cutting back the amount it spends on Nichols’ defense by funding only two of his four lawyers and paying them $95 an hour _ the rate paid to other lawyers across the state, Haskin said.

The public defender council now pays for the defense of 78 death penalty defendants, 56 of whom are represented by state-salaried capital defenders. But another 22 defendants, including Nichols, are assigned private lawyers.

The council may be able to make up the shortfall by taking money from other defender programs and then seeking emergency midyear funding from the Legislature, Haskin said.

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