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Could you wait until July to commit your crime, please?

Death penalty opponents have found a novel way to prevent executions in Georgia.

Shut down the criminal docket.

See, what happened was, Georgia created a state-wide public defender system run by a state agency. This year, the Governor (generous of heart that he is) asked for $3.6 million for the public defender's office (what they actually thought they needed to run their operations). The Legislature has approved $513,000. Of which $475,000 is owed to appointed counsel in capital cases.

So, if the public defender's office runs out of money, the director has said that she will send her entire staff on furlough for the month of June. Sure, maybe a few of them will come into the office once in a while, but let's be serious - if you're working on a public defender's salary, can you afford to just take a month off and not get paid? No - they'll be out beating the bushes for paying civil work that doesn't conflict.

What does this mean? First of all, obviously, the capital docket goes out the window. You can't have effective assistance of counsel where there's no counsel. But, more importantly, what about a 72-hour hearing?

For the non-lawyers reading this (Hi, So DC), a 72-hour hearing is an initial hearing where the accused appears before the judge, is informed of the charges against them, and has any argument for or against bond. Bond may also be set, or the judge may take the arguments under advisement and issue a ruling on bond later. A defendant has an absolute right to a 72-hour hearing - which, as the name implies, MUST take place within 72 hours of the arrest. The state literally can't hold a person for longer than 72 hours unless it notifies them of the basis of the detention.

And you have an absolute right, conferred by the Sixth Amendment, to have a lawyer present to represent you at the 72-hour hearing. So what happens when suddenly no lawyers are around from the public defender's office?

The Dicta suspects that hundreds of possible (or hell's bells, actual) criminals are going to be walking the streets of Hot-lanta, rather than being in jail during June. So, summer associates at firms like Alston & Bird LLP, or Kilpatrick Stockton, might want to rethink that cheap Midtown apartment with a quick commute to the office. Or, conversely, just quit. I'm sure that little firm in Podunk, State Where You Go To Law School (you know, the one you snorted at and thought, "I'm too good for them"? Yeah, that one), would just LOVE to have you around now.

The moral of the story is: Georgia sucks. And has lots of crime. Especially this June.

Full post as published by Supreme Dicta on March 03, 2008 (boomark / email).