Public Defenders

Jailhouse informant program used for decades, and sheriff’s dept. tried to cover it up, brief says

Judge Thomas Goethals of the Orange County, California Superior Court has threatened several times to send people at the county sheriff’s department to jail for shredding or playing discovery games with evidence about the department’s jailhouse informant program, the Orange County Register has reported in the past. But the 5,653…

Apr 4, 2017 1:36 PM CDT

ABA president urges New York governor to support independent oversight of indigent defense

ABA President Linda Klein has called on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to support an independent statewide indigent-defense system. In a letter (PDF) dated Feb. 24, Klein highlighted the ABA’s 10 Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System (PDF), which lays out standards for indigent defense systems. She notes that…

Mar 1, 2017 1:20 PM CST

Louisiana’s public defender system is understaffed by about 1,400 lawyers, ABA study finds

The state public defender system in Louisiana is understaffed by 1,406 lawyers, according to an ABA study of their workloads. The study (PDF) found that 1,769 full-time public defenders are needed to provide reasonably effective assistance of counsel in Louisiana, but the state only employs 363 full-time equivalent PDs. An…

Feb 17, 2017 3:09 PM CST

Class action lawsuit alleges Louisiana public defender funding system denies right to counsel

Indigent defendants from Louisiana are so poorly served by the state’s public defender system that their right to counsel is being violated, a lawsuit filed Monday alleges. According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Southern Poverty Law Center and two law firms…

Feb 7, 2017 12:48 PM CST

Lawyer is reprimanded for pretending to gag during prosecutor questioning of witness

An assistant public defender in Florida has received a reprimand for pretending to gag while a prosecutor questioned a jailhouse informant against her murder client during a court hearing. Usually ethics complaints are handled through a Florida Bar disciplinary process, but the complaint against Palm Beach County Assistant Public Defender…

Jan 26, 2017 7:00 AM CST

Sanction is upheld for unpaid lawyer’s refusal to represent indigent defendant

The Mississippi Supreme Court has upheld a sanction for an appointed lawyer who refused to represent an indigent defendant because of fears he would not be paid. In a Jan. 5 decision (PDF), the court upheld the sanction imposed by Hinds County Circuit Judge Jeff Weill, report the Associated Press…

Jan 9, 2017 9:55 AM CST

When public defenders become plaintiffs

When Stephen Hanlon of the National Association for Public Defense challenged chronic funding problems at the Missouri State Public Defender Commission, public defenders themselves were the petitioners.

Jan 1, 2017 4:05 AM CST

Courthouse software issues have led to wrongful arrests, public defender says

A public defender in Alameda County, California, alleges that a new, unwieldy courthouse computer system has led to the wrongful arrests of dozens of people. Public Defender Brendon Woods filed a motion in November asking Alameda County to abandon the Odyssey Case Manager software until the problems can be fixed,…

Dec 19, 2016 7:00 AM CST

DOJ will investigate Orange County prosecutors’ and sheriffs’ use of jail informants

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that it would investigate allegations that the Orange County, California, District Attorney’s office and Sheriff’s Department have systematically used jailhouse informants illegally to convict defendants. A DOJ press release says the department’s Office of Civil Rights, along with the U.S. Attorney’s office for…

Dec 16, 2016 8:16 AM CST

Public defender is found in contempt for refusing cases; DA asks state supreme court to intervene

New Mexico’s chief public defender has been found in contempt of court and fined $5,000 for refusing to provide lawyers to represent criminal defendants in five cases because of his office’s high caseloads. Judge Gary Clingman of Lea County imposed a fine of $1,000 for each case, but said he…

Dec 1, 2016 2:16 PM CST

Two federal defenders in Omaha discover they are half sisters

Julie Hansen and Kelly Mahoney Steenbock both excelled in academics and were determined to attend college and law school, despite growing up poor in households that could not pay for their higher education. Both got jobs after law school in county public defender offices, and both eventually became public defenders…

Nov 28, 2016 2:23 PM CST

In ‘blistering’ ruling, court upholds recusal of entire Orange County DA’s office from murder case

A California appeals court issued a sharply worded rebuke to the state Attorney General’s office yesterday in a high-profile case, the Orange County Register reported. The ruling came in the high-profile murder trial of Scott Dekraai, who in 2011 shot up the hair salon where his former wife was working,…

Nov 23, 2016 2:40 PM CST

Invoices of court-appointed lawyers in Michigan reveal few motions filed and few experts hired

Court-appointed lawyers in three Michigan counties are underpaid and rarely do much work on their client’s behalf, according to a newspaper’s review of invoices in more than 1,600 felony cases and more than 1,800 cases involving parents targeted by the state’s child protective-services agency. The Lansing State Journal conducted the…

Nov 3, 2016 3:22 PM CDT

Judge chides sheriff, turns over more documents in Orange County jailhouse informant case

In March of 2015, California judge Thomas Goethals removed the entire district attorney’s office of Orange County from a high-profile murder case, finding a “chronic failure” to turn over discoverable evidence. Last Friday, the same judge ordered 250 to 300 more documents to be turned over to the defense, the…

Oct 31, 2016 4:10 PM CDT

Pennsylvania supremes allow suit alleging inadequate funding for public defender office

Indigent criminal defendants may sue for alleged inadequate funding in a Pennsylvania public defender’s office, the state supreme court has ruled. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled (PDF) on Wednesday in the suit against Luzerne County, report the Citizens’ Voice, the Associated Press and the Sixth Amendment Center. The ABA had…

Sep 30, 2016 10:37 AM CDT