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Indigent Defense in Georgia

By standdown

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, " Public defender bill clears hurdle."A key state Senate committee on Thursday approved legislation that defense attorneys say would increase jail costs and deprive poor people charged with crime speedy access to a lawyer. The Senate Judiciary Committee added the provision to HB 1245, which is legislation to overhaul the state's indigent defense system.A hallmark of legislation that established a new statewide public defender system in 2005 was increased oversight, to make sure defendants were provided lawyers within 72 hours of arrest. In the years leading up to the new system, defendants in some county jails languished for weeks or months before seeing a lawyer. Data from the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council showed that public defenders met the 72-hour requirement 95 percent of the time last year...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on March 14, 2008 (boomark / email).