Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Public Defender Stuff

Criminal Law

: Public Defender Stuff

Standards on public defenders issued

By Gideon

From the San Francisco Chronicle: A divided Nevada Supreme Court has adopted standards to ensure that indigents charged with crimes get adequate legal counsel, and has set an April 1 deadline for implementing those standards. The high court’s order, released Friday, also gives Washoe and Clark Counties, Nevada’s largest, until next May to complete studies on caseloads that public defenders should carry. The mandate was scheduled to take effect last April but was delayed pending a review of the impact on rural areas of the state. Justices plan a Jan. 6 hearing to consider that review. The order for adequate counsel is in line with a long-standing U.S. Supreme Court requirement. Delays were sought because of the high cost of implementing the order ? but justices also had been told that not complying with the requirement opens the state and its counties to possible lawsuits...continue to full post

Full post as published by Public Defender Stuff on October 18, 2008 (boomark / email).