Public defender systems restricted
Published 10:18 am Friday, February 27, 2015
More than a dozen district public defender systems will become insolvent this year and be forced to restrict their services, said State Public Defender Jay Dixon.
Costs have outstripped revenue in recent years, forcing many public defender offices statewide to drain their fund balances to avoid curtailing services, but that can’t continue, Dixon said.
The public defender districts for Caddo, East Baton Rouge, La Salle, Bossier and Webster parishes will restrict their services as of March 1. And the districts that serve Winn, Grant, Red River, East and West Feliciana, St. Martin, St. Mary and Iberia parishes will do so later this year.
Twenty-five districts are expected to become insolvent in 2016, and as many as 29 of the 42 districts could go under in 2017.
The funding equation is the problem, said John Burkhart with the Louisiana Campaign for Equal Justice. Local funding for public defender offices comes from traffic fines and court fees, but the volume of traffic tickets written varies and defendants often can’t afford to pay their court fees, Burkhart said.
The rest of public defenders’ funding comes from the state — $17.4 million in fiscal year 2013. Burkhart said he is worried about cuts; $5.4 million is the rumored amount to be slashed. “Best-case scenario: Everything stays the same,” he said.
Vernon Parish public defenders, anticipating financial issues, began restricting services Feb. 1. The judges in 30th Judicial District Court have asked lawyers to volunteer to take on cases. If there aren’t enough volunteers, the judges said, attorneys will be appointed.
As recently as September, the Vernon PDO was financially stable, but declining local revenues forced it to use its fund balance to stay afloat.
In 2012, public defenders successfully lobbied for a $10 increase in their cut from court costs, but that increase has failed to prop up the district offices.
Revenues in fiscal year 2013 were $26.8 million — $3.9 million less than was expected. The districts in 2014 got $25.8 million, which was $4.9 million less than hoped. That $10 increase will roll back in 2016 unless the Legislature votes otherwise.
Rep. James Armes, D-Leesville, said it’s unlikely the office will get any more money and that the timing — amid state money troubles — couldn’t be worse. He said the state is more concerned with issues of health care and higher education right now.
“They need to learn to live within their budgets. All of (the public agencies) do,” Armes said. “I have to live within mine, and you have to live in yours.”
The public defender system is one of the few state agencies that hasn’t had its state allocations cut in recent years.
Dixon said the system is “really a mess,” and he expects 2016 to be worse. He said districts will likely be forced to prioritize cases, meaning some defendants will have to wait longer for their day in court.
Louisiana public defenders represented more than 85 percent of all criminal defendants, or 247,828 cases in 2013.
If lawyers are appointed to represent indigent defenders on a pro-bono basis, Dixon said, many attorneys will likely become overburdened with cases and may be tempted to encourage more plea deals. He said they will likely be unable to represent their clients to the best of their ability.
“We’re going to have to draw a line in the sand and say we can’t take any more cases because that would mean we couldn’t provide adequate representation,” he said.
In smaller parishes like Vernon all lawyers could be subject to pro-bono appointment, including those who don’t practice criminal law.
“You can have a bankruptcy lawyer representing someone charged for a bank robbery,” said George Steimel, a lobbyist for the Louisiana Association of Criminal Lawyers. “Those lawyers won’t know what to do.”
He said the restriction of services poses serious potential for litigation for the state. He said lawyers who are appointed could sue for being forced to take on cases without pay, defendants could sue for lack of adequate representation and even those found guilty could argue that the state didn’t honor their constitutional right to a speedy trial.
Steimel said it could even mean an eventual federal lawsuit against Louisiana for its failure to maintain its public defender system.
Burkhart said it could behoove the state, which boasts the highest incarceration rate in the world, to consider fines instead of jail time for nonviolent crimes. That would mean less incarceration and less pressure on the system.
“There are the three pillars of justice: the courts, the prosecution and the defense,” Burkhart said. “If one of those crumbles, the whole thing falls down.”
(MGNonline)