Supervisors may create Office of Indigent Legal Services

From the Kingman Daily Miner (AZ):

A new plan is in the works to take some of the confusion out of indigent defense at the County Superior Court.

The County Public Defender’s and Legal Defender’s offices will present a plan during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisor’s meeting that will create an Office of Indigent Legal Services. The Board will meet at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in the County Administration Building, 700 W. Beale St.

The office, according to material provided to the Board, will reorganize how indigent defense cases are processed.

Currently, if a defendant cannot afford to pay for an attorney, a judge assigns the case to the PDO. If the PDO has a conflict of interest in taking the case or currently does not have an attorney that can take the case, the case is then assigned to the LDO. If the LDO has a conflict of interest or does not have an attorney who can take the case, it is sent back to the PDO, which then assigns it, via a contract, to an outside attorney. Outside attorneys are paid a set hourly wage per case.

If approved, the director of the new Office of Indigent Legal Services would determine which indigent defense cases will go to the LDO or PDO, and which ones will be contracted to outside attorneys. The office will also oversee the use of investigators, experts, interpreters and other services used by attorneys in order to keep costs down.

Read the entire article