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Dallas public defender saves county money compared to neighbors

The main reason I think Dallas County Commissioners must have some ulterior motive in hounding chief public defender Brad Lollar out of his position this week is that their stated reasons - lazy lawyers and high costs at the PD office - make little sense on their face. Lawyers in the Dallas PD office have been told their agency may be dramatically slashed in the coming budget or even eliminated.Most counties in recent years would have been thrilled to see their indigent defense costs rise as slowly as in Dallas. Indeed, if Dallas county were to slash the public defender budget, there's little question their costs would increase to match higher recent costs experienced by counties without a PD.In 2005 a consultant hired by neighboring Tarrant County (Fort Worth) contrasted their indigent defense costs in the wake of passage of Texas' Fair Defense Act in 2001 to their neighbors and the rest of the state, and officials would do well to recall that the Dallas defender office fared particularly well by comparison...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on June 12, 2008 (boomark / email).