Indigent defense: Michigan looks to overhaul system for low-income criminal defense, By Jonathan Oosting, June 14, 2013, MLive.com: “Michigan lawmakers on Thursday took a major step towards overhauling the state’s public criminal defense system, which critics say has been broken for years and failed to protect some residents who cannot afford their own attorney. The Senate and House on Thursday approved identical bills, setting the stage for them to be finalized and sent to the governor as early as next week, to create the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission. The 16-member body would be tasked with researching, developing and enforcing minimum standards for constitutionally-guaranteed legal representation in jurisdictions around the state…”
Tag: Public defenders
Public Defender Caseloads – Missouri
Rule will cap public defender caseload, By Scott Moyers, September 19, 2012, Southeast Missourian: “A new rule set to begin Oct. 1 will permit the state’s public defender system to defer certain criminal cases in a move that proponents say should give the state’s low-income defendants quality legal representation that has been lacking during a decade of swelling caseloads and dwindling resources. But a number of skeptics, including Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle, believe the rule’s new formula ‘greatly exaggerates’ the time that is being estimated for the defender caseloads and also suggest that the change is really a thinly veiled attempt to pressure the state for more dollars. But a July 31 Missouri Supreme Court ruling says the Missouri Public Defender Commission, which oversees the state’s 150 public defenders, has the authority to set maximum caseloads if the defender’s office asserts that the caseload capacity was exceeded…”
Legal Defense for the Poor – Iowa, Michigan
- Iowa’s costs for defending poor rise, By Vanessa Miller, June 28, 2012, Cedar Rapids Gazette: “Just a handful of basic questions stand between accused criminals claiming to be indigent and trained attorneys willing to fight for them in court. Do you have a job? How much do you earn? How much are your monthly bills? Most of the time, according to legal experts and court officials, accused offenders applying for court-appointed attorneys answer truthfully – they are signing the paperwork under penalty of perjury after all. But, according to officials within the state’s judicial system, there is no systematic procedure in place to verify that recipients of court-appointed counsel are being honest about their finances. That means some of the accused could be taking advantage of an indigent defense system that is largely supported by taxpayers and already spread thin, with the gap between what is spent on public defense and what is paid back by accused offenders widening…”
- Poor people aren’t getting equal shake in court, governor’s panel warns, By Pat Shellenbarger, June 26, 2012, MLive.com: “Fridays in Ottawa County’s courts — when criminal defendants often are arraigned without legal representation — are referred to as ‘McJustice Days.’ In Sault Ste. Marie, attorneys representing the poor have little time to prepare and wait in line to meet with their clients in the courthouse’s unisex bathroom. In Wayne County, court-appointed attorneys haven’t received a raise in decades and say they often take on more cases than they can handle. And in a report approved June 22, the Michigan Advisory Commission on Indigent Defense urged the Legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder to increase funding and implement statewide standards for the state’s system of providing attorneys for indigent criminal defendants — a system that has been criticized as one of the worst in the country…”