Private law firm to handle city’s court-appointed indigent cases; will this improve current ‘mess’?

In a controversial plan, the city of Philadelphia is planning to retain a private law firm to handle all court-appointed defense work for indigent individuals at an expected savings of $1 million annually. But will this be an improvement on an indigent-defense system that many see as flawed? The issue…

Oct 8, 2013 7:15 PM CDT

Miami-Dade’s overburdened PD’s office may decline new clients, Florida court says

Oct 1, 2013 8:50 AM CDT

Attorney who billed for 29-hour day did the work, his lawyer says

An Ohio lawyer who billed for lengthy work days on court-appointed cases, including one that stretched for 29 hours, is facing a disciplinary proceeding. However, Ben Swift did the work and just needed to keep better records, his lawyer told the Dayton Daily News (sub. req.). The Associated Press also…

Sep 16, 2013 4:19 PM CDT

10th Circuit says judge erred in denying payment to lawyer who challenged execution method

An Oklahoma lawyer who mounted an unsuccessful legal challenge to the method of execution eventually used on his client in a death-penalty case is entitled to be paid for his time, a federal appeals court has ruled. Reversing a federal district court’s decision not to award attorney fees to James…

Sep 4, 2013 7:55 PM CDT

Did Durham police chief say criminal defense lawyer deserved to be shot? City probes allegation

The city of Durham, N.C., is probing allegations that Police Chief Jose Lopez said a lawyer injured in a shooting deserved to be shot because he is a public defender. The lawyer, David Hall, was an innocent bystander injured in a shooting on June 22, WNCN reports. A story by…

Sep 3, 2013 12:06 PM CDT

Retired PD is accused of fondling three clients, offering to tie one to the bed

An ethics complaint accuses a longtime public defender in Illinois of fondling three clients and offering to tie one of them to his bed. Lonnie Lutz, who retired as the Coles County public defender in June, is accused in an ethics complaint filed earlier this month. Lutz worked as the…

Aug 19, 2013 12:54 PM CDT

PD explains why he fired himself

Faced with budget cuts that came with sequestration, a chief federal defender in Ohio decided to fire himself rather than any of the lawyers who worked for him. Steven Nolder, who headed the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, explained his struggle with the need for…

Aug 12, 2013 4:37 PM CDT

Military judge says Hasan can choose own trial strategy, orders defense lawyers to stay on standby

A U.S. Army psychiatrist in a capital case over the 2009 shooting spree that killed 13 at Fort Hood is sabotaging his own defense in a deliberate effort to get the death penalty, a standby attorney for Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan told a military judge on Wednesday at his court…

Aug 8, 2013 4:00 PM CDT

Unsolved slaying of public defender leads to reward offer for tips

Police in Portland, Ore., are asking the public for any information that could help solve the 2009 slaying of an assistant federal public defender. A reward of up to $1,000 is being offered for tips leading to an arrest in the death of Nancy Bergeson, the Oregonian reports. The 57-year-old…

Aug 2, 2013 11:15 AM CDT

ABA letter warns of ‘marked imbalance’ caused by sequestration cuts to public defender offices

The ABA warns in a letter to a U.S. senator that budget cuts to public defender offices imposed by sequestration are “creating a marked imbalance in our justice system.” The letter (PDF) is intended to supplement the record of a July 23 hearing on the impact of sequestration on federal…

Aug 1, 2013 2:42 PM CDT

Career prosecutor appointed to oversee public defenders creates stir in New Mexico

The defense bar and some lawmakers are bristling at New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez’s selection of a career prosecutor to sit on the state’s new Public Defender Commission. The choice of Susan Riedel is a “slap in the face” to defendants who can’t afford private lawyers, said Barbara Mandel, president…

Jul 15, 2013 7:03 PM CDT

Trial begins in federal class action over public defender caseloads in municipal court

Two cities in Washington say they never systematically violated the right to counsel of criminal defendants and do an even better job now, under new standards adopted by the state’s top court. But the American Civil Liberties Union contends otherwise, in a class action that went to trial Monday in…

Jun 5, 2013 10:30 PM CDT

Public defenders can reject cases because of excessive workloads, state supreme court rules

Updated: The Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Miami-Dade County public defender’s office could withdraw from a large chunk of felony cases because of excessive workloads, the Miami Herald reported. Describing what it called a “damning indictment” of representation for poor criminal defendants, the court divided 5-2 on the…

May 28, 2013 11:30 AM CDT

Judge reveals dispute about whether prosecutors withheld critical evidence in Chandra Levy case

Federal prosecutors and defense lawyers in the Chandra Levy case have been battling in sealed proceedings over the existence of a prosecution witness’s history of cooperating with law enforcement, District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Gerald Fisher revealed yesterday. In early 2012, prosecutors learned that government witness Armando Morales previously…

May 22, 2013 8:18 PM CDT

Cuffed client decks lawyer with ‘baseball bat fashion’ punch during death-penalty hearing

A handcuffed client decked his defense lawyer Monday in a Blair County, Pa., courtroom, in front of the judge who was hearing his post-conviction argument that he should not be sentenced to the death penalty. Andre Staton, 50, slammed the blow in a “baseball bat fashion” squarely in the forehead…

May 14, 2013 4:30 PM CDT