Category — Minnesota

It’s good to have a post here every six months or so, don’t you think? In that spirit, and in case you missed these, here are a handful of great public defender stories from, oh, well, the last couple of months:

• Pubic Defender cited for contempt in Rochester, MN, for being unable to appear in two courtrooms at the same time. Many defense attorneys have experienced the friction that arises when judges decide to get in a snit because theirs is not the only court in the country, but this is taking it a little far. Does anyone have any idea how this turned out?
• There’s a lot of litigation in Missouri about whether public defenders can refuse new clients when caseloads get too high. It sounds like the debate is ongoing, but the Missouri Public Defender Commission is getting a new leader, so that’s something.
• The city of Chicago told its cops a couple of months ago that they weren’t writing enough tickets because the city needs more money. Yeah, let’s balance the budget with traffic tickets. Really?
• Peter Neufeld, co-founder of the Innocence Project, gave a great interview to Slate about how wrongful convictions actually happen. It will come as no surprise to public defenders that the fallibility of eyewitness testimony is a key, but he also makes a great point that many people are wrongly convicted simply because police and prosecutors (and witnesses, sometimes) just can’t admit they’re wrong.
  

  I think generally speaking it’s difficult for people to admit they’re wrong, and the higher the stakes, the more difficult it becomes. So what you really want to do is educate people that it’s OK to be wrong. It doesn’t mean you’re a fool. It’s not going to be the end of your life.

  So true.

• In Montana, critics (including some public defenders) say the 5-year-old statewide public defender system is still not working because of high caseloads and poor management. As a former Montana public defender, I can tell you — those people are working their asses off!
• Finally, for all of you PDs who feel like you don’t make enough money there’s news that “beyond household income of $75,000 a year, money “does nothing for happiness, enjoyment, sadness or stress,” and we know PDs all make at least that much so that must explain why we’re all so happy, right? Right? (-;

Minnesota Judge Gregory Galler clearly doesn’t understand the criminal justice system:

When criminal defense lawyers cross-examine police officers on the witness stand in court, its not unusual for the questioning to becomes aggressive and testy.But in Washington County earlier this month, District Judge Gregory Galler decided that defense attorney David McCormick went too far when his questions suggested an officer was being less than truthful.Galler ordered McCormick to write an apology to the police officer for “impugning the officers integrity,” according to court documents.

McCormick has not apologized and probably won’t, to which I say: Mr. McCormick, I salute you!

A person who doesn’t understand that cops lie, or that defense attorneys must press police officers hard in cross-examination to be sure they are not lying or to expose their lies, fundamentally misunderstands the adversarial nature of the criminal justice system. But don’t worry; the defense attorneys practicing in front of the misguided Galler clearly do understand the system:

Joe Friedberg, a criminal defense lawyer for 45 years, said, “If a judge ordered me to do that, I would tell him to go have intercourse with himself.”

Friedberg said he has often called cops liars and says Galler is “so far out of line, I can’t believe it. He should apologize for asking for an apology.

Carry on, counselors.

How would you like it if this. landed on your desk Monday?

?Jacoby Laquan Smith says he will turn himself in to St. Paul police this week for what must be the most unmanly crime on record: domestically abusing his armless, legless girlfriend.

Yeah. That could be a tough one.

We all work hard, but sometimes, no matter how hard we work, we can’t keep up with the avalanche of new cases. That’s where public defenders in southeastern Minnesota apparently find themselves; they filed a union grievance over excessive workloads:

A legislative audit report issued in February said public defender workloads in Minnesota are too high and exceed state and national standards.

The study took into account how much time cases took to defend, with one case unit in the average misdemeanor, and more case units for more serious offenses.

The report said that state and national standards call for public defenders to carry no more than 400 case units per year.

In this district, there were 31 full-time-equivalent public defenders in 2007. Each had a weighted caseload of 689. In 2009, there were 27 full-time-equivalent public defenders carrying 745 case units each.

The evaluators for the legislative report said that during their site visits, they saw public defenders under such time pressures that they often had about 10 minutes to meet each client for the first time, evaluate the case, explain the client’s options and the consequences of a conviction or plea, discuss a possible deal with the prosecuting attorney and allow the client to decide how to proceed.

Some of the public defenders in this district have refused to accept new case assignments.

It sounds a little dire. The “smart-ass, sailor-mouth public defender” at not for the monosyllabic should know — she’s one of the PD’s who filed the grievance.

The bottom line is that when we’re overloaded, we can’t do our jobs, and if we can’t do our jobs, the Constitution gets trampled. Good luck, brothers and sisters! We’re with you!

If you find yourself feeling jaded or discouraged by the grind of your caseload, pause for a moment and take a look at your job and your profession through the enthusiastic eyes of newly-minted PD Not for the Monosyllabic who says being a public defender is pretty much the coolest thing ever:

My job kicks so much ass it’s unbelievable.

It’s ridiculously awesome. If I had to rate it on a scale from 1 to insanely awesome, I’d have to go with insanely awesome.

Remember when you were that excited to be a public defender? No? Well, then, go read the entire entry; you’re clearly needing a reminder. Remind yourself how great it was to have your first very own office, your first very own office chair, and your first job where you actually had the freedom to make your own schedule (more or less). Sure, it’s true that big desk can quickly shrink under piles of work you have to do, that chair can become the place you feel you never leave, that freedom to make your own schedule can disappear under a caseload whose looming deadlines dictate your every move…. Yes, that can happen. Still, it’s good to remember the joys of those first days. Thanks to NftM for the pleasant reminder.

From the MinnPost:

Michael Kunkel’s work was done. For the moment.

The young lawyer with the Joe Mauer sideburns was trying to relax. His hearing before the Minnesota Court of Appeals, including rapid-fire, rugged questioning from the three justices, was over.

But his day was not.

Kunkel, 29, was gathering his belongings for a parole hearing in Anoka County 25 miles. He has another 30 or so cases on his desk back at the State Public Defender’s Office at the less-than-glamorous Griggs Midway Building on University Avenue in St. Paul.

Just so happens Kunkel’s venue today was Courtroom 200 of the Minnesota Judicial Center.

It’s directly beneath Courtroom 300, the daily venue for the Norm Coleman-Al Franken recount trial.

…

Coleman’s and Franken’s lawyers are making — what? — an average of $500 an hour? They’re big hitters from Washington, Seattle and the Twin Cities. Sounds like as much as $20,000 a week per lawyer, give or take a grand or two.

…

The state public defender’s office, already reeling from 53 layoffs this year, could be in further danger if state budget cuts whack the justice system. Kunkel, who has been with the PD’s office for three-and-a-half years, could be laid off.

Meanwhile, three state district court judges, supported by their state-paid clerks, sit in Courtroom 300, and a Ramsey County courts clerk administers proceedings that drag on in the Franken-Coleman case.

Read the entire article

From the Post-Bulletin (MN):

A 10 percent cut budget cut would result in the elimination of 300 to 400 positions statewide.

The justice system includes prosecutors, public defenders, law enforcement and people who provide legal services to the poor.

John Stuart, chief public defender in Minnesota, said his department cut 53 public defender positions last year because of budget woes. Another 100 public defenders would be lost under a 10 percent budget cut, he said. These are the attorneys who represent people unable to hire lawyers.

“I love living in a country where people have rights. Everyone has the right to a fair trial, but that does not happen automatically,” he said. “People have to be there to do the work, to provide the service.”

In Rochester, he said, there are public defenders with 200 active cases. Stuart said there will be delays.

“No one gets a fair trial if he has to wait one or two years for his trial,” Stuart said.

If cases are delayed, security is jeopardized, Stuart said. Jails will become more overcrowded because defendants will be held longer waiting for trials and hearings, increasing the cost to counties.

Olmsted County Sheriff Steve Von Wald said crime usually goes up in times of economic crisis.

Magnuson said courts collect $200 million in revenue annually for state and local governments. Much of that would be gone.

He said the state’s justice system is stretched to the breaking point and further cuts would jeopardize the system. And that, he said, will affect just about every Minnesotan.

Read entire story

From the Alexandria Echo Press (MN):

Minnesota law clearly guarantees parents in child protection cases the right to an attorney.

The issue becomes muddied, however, when trying to sort out whose job it is to provide that service.

Now, as it faces a $3.8 million shortfall due to state budget cuts, the Minnesota Board of Public Defense says it can no longer afford to provide any “non-mandated services,” including representing parents.

On Tuesday, the state board discontinued its role in child protection cases, passing the costs onto Minnesota counties at a time when they say they’re already stretched thin.

The timing couldn’t be worse, said Douglas County Auditor/Treasurer Tom Reddick, with the state also limiting how much counties can raise property taxes over the next few years.

“That’s the really sinful part of this thing,” he said. “If [the cost of representing parents] falls under the levy limit [of 3.9 percent] – if you squeeze the balloon over here, then it pops over there.”

Covering parents’ legal fees for the remainder of the year could cost the county as much as $55,000, and three times as much should the county have to pick up the tab in 2009, said Rhonda Bot, 7th District court administrator for Douglas and Morrison counties.

Read the entire story

From the Park Rapids Enterprise:

Justice delayed is justice denied.

That prognostication has become both a cliché and a rallying call for legal reformers. But it’s about to become a burden on indigent Minnesotans and cash-strapped counties.

On June 5 massive cuts were enacted to the state public defenders budget to address deficits and budget shortfalls. The equivalent of 72 of 441 positions was cut from public defenders’ offices and appellate lawyers statewide, a 15 percent reduction in staff.

Minnesota public defenders, according to state compiled statistics, represent 85 percent of all persons charged with felonies and half of the persons accused of misdemeanors.

“I would think that we’re higher up here in PD representation than those numbers simply because the metro areas have a larger pool of private attorneys from the criminal defense bar,” said Kris Kolar, Chief Public Defender for the 9th Judicial District. She added that Hubbard County may be more economically distressed, so that would be a factor, too.

The State Board of Public Defense also voted to stop representing indigent parents in custody fights and in terminations of parental rights (TPR) cases. The former are typically referred to as CHIPS cases, for Children in Need of Help or Protection.

The Board said it faced a $3.8 million deficit after legislators cut $1.5 million from its budget this past session.

It means that overworked public defenders will shoulder even heavier caseloads, poor defendants will wait longer to go to trial and to appeal their cases, court administrators will wait longer to collect fines and fees and the judicial system will feel the strain.

Read the entire story

An update from our friend Accident Prone, in the midst of the Minnesota pd budget crisis:

I am safe. Well, at least my job is.

After considerable cutbacks to the Minnesota State PD Budget, they only have to cut 23 public defenders statewide. However, we are losing about 53 full time PD’s total thanks to other options (voluntary 1-year leave, early retirement, etc.). Our office in Hennepin County is already 14.5 full-time positions in the hole, so we were spared. Caseload and arraignment relief is nowhere in sight. We had to cut all contracts for our conflicts cases (so God only knows what we will do with those).

It’s going to be a hard summer across the state. It will be even more difficult because of the increase in charged crimes in the summer months.

From TwinCities.com:

The bastard child of American jurisprudence is taking another rap to the knuckles. Life is unfair. So what else is new?

We’re talking here about public defenders for indigent criminal defendants. They are an overworked, underpaid, misunderstood and much-maligned lot. Could be those two words — indigent and criminal — that put most of us off. It’s human nature.

Yet without these attorneys, the lofty ideal of “justice for all” — or constitutionally mandated due process for the have-nots as well as the haves — is pretty much a farce. It was announced last week that 72 state-funded public defender positions would be eliminated in Minnesota because the state’s public defender system faces a $3.8 million deficit following legislative budget cuts.

The job cuts made some news buzz. Then we collectively turned to more interesting and most-read serious news tidbits, like actress Tori (Tori who?) Spelling giving birth to a second child and naming the kid Stella.

Stella, Stella. Ever heard the name Gideon, a name that changed the legal landscape in this nation more than four decades ago? The anticipated cuts come on the 45th anniversary of the landmark 1963 Supreme Court decision ruling that everyone in America — both the haves but notably the have-nots — have the right to have a lawyer defend them in a criminal case. Of course, the decision in Gideon v. Wainwright made no mention at all about how this concept would be funded.

…

That will also affect the willingness or the memory of witnesses or victims to a crime, particularly in cases where DNA or scientific evidence is nonexistent.

Indeed, the decision in Gideon v. Wainwright has proven to be mostly a toothless tiger, given cultural attitudes.

Public defenders continue to lobby for funding scraps year in and year out while funding for prosecutors and the judiciary remains relatively constant and generally rides the ebb and flow of state budget revenue streams.

That disparity is also much reinforced by TV and Hollywood depictions that prosecutors are good and defense lawyers are conniving shysters willing to do anything to get their client off.

Of course, reality puts quite a damper on such thoughts.

…

Ramsey County Chief Public Defender Jim Hankes told me in 2004, in the midst of another round of proposed cuts, that this state of funding affairs is far more normal than the exception.

“Though the (state) Legislature has been generous in recent years, things really don’t change,” said Hankes, who will have to make do with a 25 percent manpower reduction in his 48-member staff by the end of the summer. Right now, each attorney in his office handles about 700 criminal misdemeanor and felony cases annually. The cuts will likely drive up that caseload to more than 800. Public defenders represent most defendants in Minnesota, including 85 percent of those accused of felonies and half of those accused of misdemeanors.

“There are favorite children, but we are not one of them,” Hankes said of who gets the bulk of the funding in this legal triumvirate.

It will change when the American public realizes that those accused of crimes are not “those people,” but more often their neighbors or relatives.

For now, assembly-line justice in the nation that is the undisputed world leader in incarceration of its own people is the accepted norm.

This is not solely a Minnesota problem. In fact, this state enjoys a national reputation for having one of the best, if imperfect, public defense systems in the nation.

Chicago and New York are drowning in public-defense woes. Miami’s public defenders recently decided to deal exclusively with death penalty cases because they don’t have the funds to deal with less-serious cases. You will find similar woes in most areas.

So, who cares? We all should, because it will cost us dollars in cases delayed, and ultimately wrongful-conviction lawsuits.

In the end, it’s the fairness and confidence in the system that should be paramount. It’s what used to make us unique. We lose this, we lose our standing, if not our idealistic soul and compass.

Read the entire story

From KSTP.com:

Those accused of crimes in Minnesota will likely face longer waits for their day in court and parents trying to hang onto their children will stop getting free legal representation after the state Board of Public Defense voted Thursday to cut more than 15 percent of its lawyers.

That translates into the equivalent of 72 full-time positions, of which 53 are currently filled positions. The board said in a release that it faces a $3.8 million deficit after the Legislature cut $1.5 million from its budget to address a state shortfall.

Public defenders represent the majority of defendants in Minnesota, including 85 percent of those accused of felonies and half of those accused of misdemeanors. The average public defender handles 714 cases a year, a number expected to top 800 after the job cuts take effect next month.

“Our clients are going to notice it the most,” said Bill Ward, chief public defender in the 10th judicial district on the northern edge of the Twin Cities. “There is going to be delay.”

Ward said the staff cuts will ripple through the court system, forcing more delays in trials and making local jurisdictions wait longer to collect fines, fees and assessments.

Of the 72 cuts, 19 are vacant jobs that won’t be filled, about 30 will be eliminated through early retirements and other voluntary departures and the equivalent of 23 or 24 full-time attorneys will face layoffs, Ward said.

The board will stop representing parents in child protection and parental rights termination cases because public defenders are not required to provide those services.

Read the entire story