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Citing Workload, More Public Defenders Are Refusing New Cases

By David Feige

As the economy continues to go south, and budgets continue to get slashed, we're in for a long hard fight to try to maintain even the barest of minimum standards. What's strange, of course, is that politicians don't see how arrest and enforcement patterns are the problem. Anyway, this has been a long time coming.My favorite bit of the piece:"On one day in April, Ms. Weber had 13 cases set for trial, so she had to arrange for delays in all but one. That same day, James A. Simons, 59, who was in jail on child pornography charges, was offered a plea: one year in prison. Ms. Weber said she simply had no time to discuss the offer with him, but that he would have accepted it and ended his case.Not receiving an immediate agreement, prosecutors gathered more evidence and rescinded the one-year offer...continue to full post

Full post as published by Indefensible on November 08, 2008 (boomark / email).