Public Defenders – Missouri

Missouri public defender director warns his department is in crisis, Associated Press, February 21, 2016, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “The director of Missouri’s public defenders is warning that the state’s chronically underfunded system for representing poor people has become a ‘house of cards’ that could face a federal lawsuit if it’s not improved. The Office of the State Public Defender is asking for a funding boost of more than $25 million for the fiscal year that starts in July, but Gov. Jay Nixon’s budget proposal calls for a $1.5 million increase to the department. Most of it slated for ‘representation costs,’ though he isn’t proposing to add more full-time employees…”