Kentucky’s public defenders face budget cuts

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.

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