PD's office says it will begin refusing serious felony cases
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The public defender’s office in New Orleans announced on Monday that it would begin refusing felony cases with the potential for lengthy sentences.
Colin Reingold, litigation director of the Orleans Public Defenders office, said the overburdened office needs more funding or reduced caseloads, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.
Reingold said the office is already handling 350 cases with the potential for long or life sentences, and only eight of its full-time lawyers are qualified to handle them.
Reingold said it will be up to judges to decide how to handle cases declined by the PD’s office. If a judge orders the office to handle the case despite its objections, the lawyers would do the best they can. But the office would be warning the judge of its opinion “that the representation we are providing is deficient, and the case will be vulnerable to an appeal,” he said.
The Orleans Public Defenders office had indicated it was seeking a moratorium on case assignments in November.
