Public defenders sue state over funding

From the Kentucky Herald-Leader:

State public defenders filed a sweeping lawsuit Monday seeking a declaration that Kentucky’s criminal-defense system for the indigent is inadequately funded and unconstitutional.

The Department of Public Advocacy filed a petition in Franklin Circuit Court asking a judge to order the state finance Cabinet to pay for private lawyers in cases where public defenders withdraw because of a $2.3 million budget cut in the fiscal year that begins Tuesday.

In the alternative, public defenders are asking the court to set a deadline for the General Assembly to allocate more money. If the legislature does not provide “sufficient” funds, then public defenders want the courts to dismiss all charges for poor criminal defendants who are denied public defenders.

“Not only are the lives and liberty of some of our most vulnerable citizens at risk, but the fairness, reliability and credibility of the criminal justice process are rightly in question,” Louisville’s chief public defender, Dan Goyette, said in a statement. “We can ill-afford a loss of public confidence in our adversary legal system and with it respect for the rule of law.”

The department’s budget for fiscal year 2008-09 was recently cut by the General Assembly to $37.8 million. Officials say they will be unable to fill as many as 75 positions, including 60 lawyer slots.

Public defenders are asking the courts to allow them to withdraw from cases if their caseloads are too high. The average caseload for a public defender in 2007 was 436, with 23 percent of those being felony cases, according to the lawsuit. Public defenders say that level is excessive.

The lawsuit was filed by lawyers Jon L. Fleischaker, Charles E. English and Sheryl G. Snyder, who has been a legal adviser to several governors. The lawyers are handling the case for free.

“It’s a system that needs to be adequately funded so that there is equal justice for all, including indigent defendants,” Snyder said. “So undertaking the representation as a public service is something I was glad to do.”

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The lawsuit is available here