Legal Commentary

Public Defenders Take a Hit in GA

By TChris

Innocent people are convicted in Georgia, just like everywhere else. The problem will only grow worse now that Georgia, in an effort to trim the state budget, plans to lay off 17 public defenders in Fulton County.

On Monday, the county’s chief judge, Doris L. Downs, called the layoffs “irresponsible.”

For every public defender laid off, the same fate should befall a prosecutor. Why should those who are committed to defending the rights of the accused carry the weight of the state's failure to generate the tax revenues needed to make the criminal justice system operate fairly? [more ...]

Georgia has a long history of treating public defenders as an afterthought, and not a very important one, in its criminal justice system.

In 2003, the indigent defense system in Georgia, a piecemeal system of county programs that had been ranked among the worst in the United States, was overhauled to provide statewide oversight and financing. The changes were intended to eliminate practices like contracting defense cases to lawyers who often had little experience or interest in criminal defense.

Georgia's "reform" was short-lived. A plan to keep the system in operation is destined to result in more convictions of the innocent.

Vernon S. Pitts, the public defender for Fulton County, said council officials had considered offering the county $800,000, or $400 a case, to pay private lawyers to handle its conflict cases. It is not clear whether that is enough money.

Actually, it's very clear that $400 per case isn't enough money. It isn't even enough to pay for the time needed to read the police reports in a typical felony prosecution. No lawyer should play Georgia's game by agreeing to work for $400. If prosecutions of the indigent grind to a halt in Fulton County, as they should, maybe Georgia's legislature will decide that protecting the innocent is at least as worthy of budgetary consideration as the need to fund 205 new state troopers and three new trooper schools (pdf). Is catching speeders really as important as keeping innocent people out of prison?

Full post as published by TalkLeft on June 10, 2008 (boomark / email).