Public defenders feeling the pinch

From the Pensacola News Journal:

The Public Defender’s Office in Pensacola may begin turning away hundreds of poor clients who qualify for its services saying the office is understaffed, underfunded and overwhelmed with cases.

“We were already under-funded and under-budgeted before,” Public Defender Jack Behr said. “I’ve been on the phone all day with all of the other elected public defenders trying to figure out how to handle this.”

The revelation came days after public defenders in Miami-Dade and Broward counties said they would consider turning away thousands of felony cases saying they are unable to provide meaningful representation.

Behr, in his final year of a more than 30-year career as public defender, said in recent years, the tough-on-crime legislature has pinched public defender budgets as the crime rate climbs.

In the past two years, Behr said his office lost $895,000 from its budget and was forced to leave six positions unfilled. The office’s 2007-08 budget was more than $8.6 million.

Behr said he has considered turning cases away which would force judges to appoint private attorneys to handle the excess cases.

“It would cost them a lot more to pay private attorneys,” Behr said. “They’ve got the best deal around with public defenders. It costs about $195 per case and they’re paying private attorneys $500, $600, $700.”

Behr’s office has 53 attorneys on staff split between Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties. In a given year, his office handles 25,000 cases.

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