Public Defenders

ACLU says it is representing bombing suspect Rahami after he was denied right to lawyer

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey says it is representing bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami on federal charges until federal public defenders are allowed to take over. The ACLU says in a press release that Rahami has been denied a right to a lawyer by both the U.S.…

Sep 26, 2016 4:35 PM CDT

Bombing suspect is charged in two federal courts; he was questioned without lawyer, PD says

Bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami is now facing federal as well as state charges in connection with bombings in New York and New Jersey and a shootout with police. Rahami was charged in connection with the bombings on Tuesday in complaints filed in federal courts in Newark (PDF) and Manhattan…

Sep 21, 2016 11:49 AM CDT

Deputy PD refuses judge’s request to remove Black Lives Matter pin; her boss supports her

A deputy public defender in Las Vegas had her boss standing by her side on Tuesday when she refused a judge’s request to remove a Black Lives Matter pin from her blouse. The deputy PD, Erika Ballou, told Judge Douglas Herndon of Clark County that she wouldn’t remove the button…

Sep 21, 2016 10:48 AM CDT

Louisiana courts are so strapped for public defenders, civil attorneys are used for criminal cases

Due to a state-wide funding crisis, there are only 22 public defenders to handle more than 18,000 cases in Louisiana’s Caddo Parish, which contains Shreveport, the state’s third-largest city. Civil attorneys are being tapped to fill in the void, despite the fact that many have no experience doing criminal law.…

Sep 16, 2016 4:05 PM CDT

David Colarusso: The data scientist at law

The data scientist at law

Sep 15, 2016 8:30 AM CDT

Louisiana’s PD system is so underfunded that tax lawyers and even a prosecutor handle defense work

Funding for indigent defense is particularly unstable in Louisiana, where the system mostly depends on funds from traffic tickets and other locally generated revenue. Louisiana’s incarceration rate is the highest of any state, and its public defender system is “on the brink of meltdown,” the Marshall Project reports in a…

Sep 8, 2016 2:00 PM CDT

New York program provides public defenders in deportation cases

When Judge Robert Katzmann joined the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New York City in 1999, immigration was a “minuscule” part of the docket. Six years later, it had become 40 percent of the caseload.

Sep 1, 2016 3:10 AM CDT

Governor appointed to represent poor defendant wins reprieve, appoints new members of PD commission

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon appointed three new members to the commission that oversees the state’s public defender system a day after a judge ruled he does not have to represent an indigent defendant. Nixon made the appointments on Friday to the seven-member board that has the authority to hire and…

Aug 31, 2016 1:57 PM CDT

Prosecutors obtained video recordings of lawyer-inmate meetings at private-run federal prison

Prosecutors obtained video recordings of lawyers meeting with their prisoner clients that were made by the Corrections Corporation of America and turned over in response to a grand jury subpoena, testimony revealed at a hearing before a federal judge last week. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson ordered (PDF) prosecutors to…

Aug 15, 2016 3:48 PM CDT

Governor who blocked public-defender budget increases is ordered to represent indigent defendant

Taking aim at the government official who has blocked budget increases for indigent defense, the top public defender in Missouri has appointed Gov. Jay Nixon to represent a poor defendant in an assault case. Michael Barrett, director of the Missouri State Public Defender, posted to his office’s website his Aug.…

Aug 4, 2016 10:26 AM CDT

Judge tosses contempt finding against public defender who was handcuffed for ‘insolent behavior’

A Nevada judge has overturned a contempt finding against a Las Vegas public defender who was handcuffed in court for interrupting a judge. District Judge Gloria Sturman of Clark Clark County said the public defender, Zohra Bakhtary, was not allowed to speak in her defense and was denied due process,…

Aug 3, 2016 10:29 AM CDT

Public defender talks armed suspect down from tree

A public defender in a bucket truck ended a 12-hour police chase through a northwest Washington state forest last week, by convincing a man reportedly armed with a box cutter to come down from a tree. Police called Robert Jones, the public defender for Anacortes, Washington, when the man they’d…

Jul 29, 2016 11:30 AM CDT

Missouri public defenders sue governor over withholding of funds

Missouri’s public defender agency has sued the state’s governor for withholding $3.5 million in the agency’s funding. According to the Associated Press, Missouri State Public Defender Michael Barrett and members of the Missouri Public Defender Commission sued Wednesday in Cole County, which includes state capital Jefferson City. They allege that…

Jul 14, 2016 4:08 PM CDT

Louisiana governor signs law reallocating money from death penalty appeals to local public defenders

Amid high-profile problems with its indigent defense funding, the state of Louisiana is revamping how its existing funds are allocated. According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Governor John Bel Edwards signed a law on Monday that changes how Louisiana’s Public Defender Board allocates its funds. The law guarantees that at…

Jun 23, 2016 4:25 PM CDT

Utah’s indigent defense system is underfunded and unconstitutional, ACLU suit alleges

A new lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union alleges that the state of Utah so drastically underfunds its indigent-defense system that it’s failing to meet its constitutional obligations to the state’s poor. The state ACLU and law firm Holland & Hart filed the proposed class action lawsuit Tuesday in…

Jun 23, 2016 3:45 PM CDT