Public Defense

Et tu Florida?

By Gideon

Don’t feel so lonely, Minnesota. You’re not alone. As a wave of cuts in indigent funding seems to be sweeping across the country, Floridians are next in line to be submurged under the tides of cutbacks.

The Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office plans to begin turning away thousands of cases in the coming weeks, arguing it is so short-staffed and underfunded that attorneys can’t effectively cover their assigned cases.

”We’re dancing as fast as we can. We can’t keep this up. We don’t have any alternative,” Public Defender Bennett Brummer said Monday, noting that his attorneys are required by the Constitution to provide adequate representation for indigent defendants.

Brummer’s plan: Refuse most felony cases. The office will continue to take cases in juvenile and misdemeanor court and the most serious felony cases — first-degree murders and capital sexual batteries.

Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein is considering a similar measure.

”No public defenders office can provide effective assistance because we are overwhelmed with cases and have inexperienced lawyers and have high turnover,” Finkelstein said. “There is a line as public defenders we cannot walk across. The judicial system is crumbling.”

Scoplaw reports from the front lines.

What is going on here? Off the top of my head I can list 5 states with indigent funding problems: Florida, Minnesota, Kentucky, Nevada and New York. I’m sure I’m missing a few.

ShareThis

Full post as published by A Public Defender on June 04, 2008 (boomark / email).