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Indigent defense news and daily roundups of all new public defender blog posts, news related to indigent defense and the Public Defender Blogger Awards.
By Gideon

Post Frequency: 0.2/day

Last Entry: September 23, 2009 at 21:48:46

Um, just don?t. (At least on the sex w/clients part.)

Posted on September 23, 2009
Ok, it’s probably never even crossed your mind, but just in case it has, um, don’t have sex with a client! If a private practitioner has sex with a client, it might be pursued as an a legal ethics violation. But because of his governmental role, a former assistant public defender in [...

Blogging PDs: A dying art?

Posted on September 12, 2009
It was with great sadness that I recently noticed that Skelly has hung up the keyboard at Arbitrary and Capricious after five years of leading the ranks of blogging public defenders. Skelly consistently posted terrific links, thoughts, observations, and musings about being a public defender, about the profession, and about the many changes in society [...

The real story of the PD crisis

Posted on August 26, 2009
Last week NPR caused a minor uproar among public defenders with its hatchet piece on the state of the profession featuring perhaps the nation’s worst public defender, Bob Slameka. Now, Woman of the Law gives us the beginning of the real story with her simple statement of what it really means to be a public defender...

Newbie PD Pick-Me-Up

Posted on March 10, 2009
If you find yourself feeling jaded or discouraged by the grind of your caseload, pause for a moment and take a look at your job and your profession through the enthusiastic eyes of newly-minted PD Not for the Monosyllabic who says being a public defender is pretty much the coolest thing ever: My job kicks so [...

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New pd blog posts

Posted on February 19, 2009
Here are the new public defender blog posts: a public defenderA Public Defender’s Life in AlaskaA Year in the LifeAbolish the Death PenaltyArbitrary and CapriciousBetween A Laugh And A TearCook County Public Defenders BlogDemonstrative Evidencethe Dream AntillesFifth Circuit BlogGo West Young Texthe imbroglioIndefensibleInfinity RanchlawbabeakNinth Circuit BlogPD JayPreaching to the ChoirRabid SanitySecond Circuit BlogSwan Lake Samba GirlTales [...

Welcome to the fold

Posted on February 19, 2009
From BRAND NEW public defender blogger Not for the monosyllabic: I GOT THE JOB!! I’m officially an assistant public defender! I’m starting on March 4th! I’ll post more info about it later–I’ve got to call about a bajillion people at the moment! HOOOOOOOORRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! Hooray indeed!

A stark contrast in courts: Coleman-Franken lawyers v. public defenders

Posted on February 19, 2009
From the MinnPost: Michael Kunkel’s work was done. For the moment. The young lawyer with the Joe Mauer sideburns was trying to relax. His hearing before the Minnesota Court of Appeals, including rapid-fire, rugged questioning from the three justices, was over...

Coalition calls for reforms in public defender system

Posted on February 19, 2009
From the Lansing State Journal: Today, the Campaign for Justice, a coalition of Michigan legal groups and human rights and faith organizations, launched an effort to reform Michigan’s system to prevent further miscarriages of justice. The effort builds on a report issued in June that found the state’s system of providing court-appointed attorneys for indigent defendants, now [...

Ga. public defender system faces challenge

Posted on February 16, 2009
From the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer: Georgia’s cash-strapped public defender system, which already struggles to pay a growing backlog of legal fees, could be faced with a new round of bills stemming from a case under review by the state’s top court...

Supervisors may create Office of Indigent Legal Services

Posted on February 16, 2009
From the Kingman Daily Miner (AZ): A new plan is in the works to take some of the confusion out of indigent defense at the County Superior Court. The County Public Defender’s and Legal Defender’s offices will present a plan during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisor’s meeting that will create an Office of Indigent Legal Services...

A PD win!: Probation is possible under Jessica?s Law

Posted on February 15, 2009
From Kansas Defenders, an appellate victory: Sarah Morrison and I won in State v. Gracey, No. 99310 (Kan. Feb. 6, 2009), holding that Jessica’s Law defendants are eligible for probation when their crime was committed before July 1, 2008. The court held, “[f]or defendants convicted of certain sexually motivated or sexually violent crimes committed before July [...

Pop quiz: Name that charge

Posted on February 15, 2009
From public defender Doubtslinger: Okay I just lost a trial last week. Here is a fair statement of the evidence, see if you can guess what charge my client was convicted of: 1) My client has no prior criminal history 2) The “victim” gave over seven different versions of the story (and never told the same story twice...

Hall officials seek to improve indigent defense

Posted on February 15, 2009
From The Gainsville Times: Faced with a growing indigent defense bill where costs were once much lower, Hall County State Court officials want to improve how they provide lawyers for the poor in 2009. But while ?improvement of delivery of indigent defense services? is a stated goal for state court this year, it?s likely to be more [...

Budget cuts would put system in jeopardy

Posted on February 13, 2009
From the Post-Bulletin (MN): A 10 percent cut budget cut would result in the elimination of 300 to 400 positions statewide. The justice system includes prosecutors, public defenders, law enforcement and people who provide legal services to the poor. John Stuart, chief public defender in Minnesota, said his department cut 53 public defender positions last year because of [...

It?s tough out there

Posted on February 13, 2009
This job ain’t easy, and no one can tell you that better than the public defender whose client gets screwed unjustly. Just ask Ipse Dixit: I had a client who got royally FUCKED at a probation violation hearing. I called 3 wits, all of whom were incredibly believable...

New pd blog posts

Posted on February 13, 2009
Here are the new public defender blog posts: a public defenderA Public Defender’s Life in AlaskaA Year in the LifeAccident ProneArbitrary and CapriciousBetween A Laugh And A TearBlonde JusticeCook County Public Defenders BlogDefense Newsletter BlogDoubtslingerthe Dream AntillesFifth Circuit BlogFive Borough DefenseFourth Circuit BlogGo West Young Texthe imbroglioIndefensibleInfinity RanchIndignant IndigentIpse DixitJayKansas DefenderslawbabeakNinth Circuit BlogPD JayPetition for ReviewPreaching [...

Blonde Justice preparz u 4 trialz!

Posted on February 12, 2009
In a bit of a shift from her usual everyday (well, never that frequent) musings on work, pop culture, friendship, and life in general, the blogger we all know and love as Blonde Justice has spent the first weeks of 2009 developing a terrific series titled simply, How to Prepare for Trial: Step One, Two, [...

WWDYT: The ethics of the post-trial jury reveal

Posted on February 11, 2009
This week’s Wednesday What Do You Think*: Is it ethical for a prosecutor to reveal to a jury after that the person they just convicted or acquitted had prior criminal convictions that were excluded from evidence? As defense attorneys we more often than not represent clients with prior criminal records...

Courtoon: Harmless Error

Posted on February 10, 2009
Today’s Courtoon from attorney David Mills: It would be pretty funny if it weren’t so true. Mr. Mills posts a new “Courtoon” every day at Courtoon central.

Discovery policy survey

Posted on February 06, 2009
Houston criminal defense attorney Paul B. Kennedy wants to know: Does your local prosecutor give you access to or copies of offense/police reports prior to trial? Apparently in some TX jurisdictions, defense attorneys don’t even get a look at such reports until the officer who wrote them gets on the stand to testify...

Public Defenders Don?t Wear Prada

Posted on February 06, 2009
Or do they? Recently Woman in Black stood up for the fashion sense of public defenders and it appears she’s not alone. In a response to a question about what lawyers wear to work, a public defender writes (scroll down to #49): I?m a female Public Defender lawyer, and I?m in court everyday, before judges, meeting [...

PD News Roundup

Posted on February 04, 2009
WI: Milwaukee’s newest assistant public defender is a former state senator who was convicted of a felony for “using workers in his Capitol office to help him campaign for attorney general in 2002.” DC: A public defender is being accused of “staying silent” when his client decided to run from his father’s funeral while in the [...

PDQOTD

Posted on February 02, 2009
The Public Defender Quote of the Day comes from Mark Bennet at Defending People who writes: We?ve got a name for lawyers who try easy cases: ?prosecutors?.

Prosecutors and Judges can drive drunk in FL and TX

Posted on February 01, 2009
Law Professor Jonathan Turley highlights two stories of how DUI/DWI laws get applied unequally when the defendants are prosecutors or judges: In Waco, District Judge Elizabeth Berry, 43, has been able to keep out the result of a blood test that showed that she was driving drunk...

NYT on Heller: What 4th Amendment?

Posted on January 31, 2009
Adam Liptak’s New York Times article about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Herring v. U.S. (PDF) succintly summarizes the implications of the case. It can be read narrowly or broadly, but if read broadly, the decision spells ?the death of the exclusionary rule as a practical matter...

San Francisco PD may begin contracting major felonies

Posted on January 29, 2009
San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi told his city’s leadership that if they don’t cough up $50k/year for two part-time paralegals he will ethically obligated to send homicides and major felonies out of the office at a cost of $120/hr...

Missouri Justice recognizes public defender crisis

Posted on January 29, 2009
The Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court is warning her state’s legislature that if they don’t pony up some cash, they may be facing lawsuits because of the poor quality of indigent defense in that state: “One measure of a society’s justice system is how well it handles the worst of citizens who come before [...

SCOTUS expands police power in traffic stops

Posted on January 28, 2009
If you haven’t heard, the Supreme Court of the U.S. seems to have purchased a one-way ticket to the land of Government Can Do No Wrong in their criminal law and procedure rulings of late. Two weeks ago, in Herring (PDF), the Court gutted the exclusionary rule, basically holding that evidence obtained by police actions [...

PD News Roundup

Posted on January 28, 2009
In Miami-Dade County, Florida, Carlos J. Martinez will be sworn in as the county’s new top Public Defender today.He’ll be the first Cuban-American to hold that office. Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, Chief Public Defender Charles T. Jones, Jr...

ABA?s Top Crim Blawg: Defending People

Posted on January 28, 2009
Maybe there were no Rodneys in 2008, but the ABA asked readers to vote on their favorite blawgs in 10 categories. The winner for “Crime Time” was Defending People by Houston criminal defense attorney Mark Bennett, who writes of the win: “The ABA Journal’s readers named this the top criminal law blog of 2008, which [...

Oh poop! I guess you can represent yourself now?

Posted on January 27, 2009
We’ve all had those clients who didn’t trust us, didn’t like us, kept asking for a different lawyer, or wanted to represent themselves. Such clients can be tough to deal with and many a judge is reluctant to grant their wish to represent themselves...

Lots of police behaving badly and one funny appellate lawyer

Posted on January 26, 2009
We don’t really need to be reminded that cops all too often are criminals, but in case you were forgetting: A Chicago cop is accused of lying about information they said came from a “confidential informant.” The lie formed the basis for the arrest of Anthony Hernandez who was held for six months before the charges [...

ABA drops props on public defenders

Posted on January 25, 2009
Most public defenders don’t give much thought to the ABA; many are not even members. Still, it’s nice when the largest volunteer professional organization in the country puts in a positive word for us. Two weeks ago they asked: What media misconception about your practice, the legal profession or the law in general has you [...

Marketplace wants to hear from you

Posted on December 08, 2008
Marketplace, a program of American Public Media (the second largest producer of public radio programming in the country, presumably behind NPR, and producer of A Prairie Home Companion) wants to hear from legal professionals about how the economy is impacting them...

Is it Rodney time?

Posted on December 02, 2008
Across the rest of the internet, it’s time to start patting each other on the back. The ABA Blawg Awards are up (with not a single public defender blog nominated, again; the 2008 Weblog awards are running, so I’ve been thinking about our own dear Rodneys...

Public lawyers? salary gap grows wider

Posted on November 30, 2008
From The Wichita Eagle and Kansas Defenders: Steve Osburn is chief of the Sedgwick County public defenders — the attorneys who represent people charged with crimes but who can’t afford to hire lawyers. As head of the Wichita office, Osburn is the second-highest paid public defender in Kansas...

New public defender fires 10 lawyers

Posted on November 30, 2008
From news4jax.com (FL), via Skelly: Ten attorneys and three administrators found themselves suddenly out of a job, sacked Friday by the newly elected Public Defender Matt Shirk. At least one of the attorneys told Channel 4 he believes the mass firings were a form of payback...

New pd blog posts

Posted on November 30, 2008
Here are the new public defender blog posts: a public defenderA Public Defender’s Life in AlaskaA Year in the LifeAccident ProneArbitrary and CapriciousBetween A Laugh And A TearBlonde JusticeCook County Public Defenders BlogDefense Newsletter BlogDoubtslingerthe Dream AntillesFive Borough DefenseFourth Circuit BlogGo West Young TexHammers and Scalesthe imbroglioIndefensibleInfinity RanchJayKansas DefenderslawbabeakNinth Circuit BlogPreaching to the ChoirRabid SanitySecond Circuit [...

Broken Windows, Sweaty Palms

Posted on November 25, 2008
A new study claims to have proven that the “broken windows” theory of crime is valid. The theory “takes its name from the observation that a few broken windows in an empty building quickly lead to more smashed panes, more vandalism and eventually to break-ins...

Why public defenders have a short lifespan

Posted on November 22, 2008
From public defender blogger A Daddy, A Mommy and a Tater Tot: I appeared with my client at a Jury Trial Management Hearing today. I told my client that the State agreed to dismiss the charges against him if he agreed to return ownership of a car to its original owner without contesting title (he was [...

New pd blog posts

Posted on November 22, 2008
Here are the new public defender blog posts: A Blues Like Down HomeA Daddy, a Mommy and a Tater Tota public defenderA Public Defender’s Life in AlaskaA Year in the LifeAbolish the Death PenaltyAccident ProneArbitrary and CapriciousBetween A Laugh And A TearBlonde JusticeCook County Public Defenders BlogDefense Newsletter BlogDoubtslingerthe Dream AntillesFifth Circuit BlogFive Borough DefenseFourth Circuit [...

Public Defender?s Office budget shortfall could stall cases

Posted on November 21, 2008
From WWLTV (NOLA): Two major players in the New Orleans criminal justice system will make their budget pitches to the City Council on Friday, but only one is expected to get funding. The District Attorney?s Office has historically received millions from the city’s general fund, but those with the Orleans Public Defenders say they’ve never received a [...

Whose Mobile Witness?

Posted on November 20, 2008
Techno Esq. points to a service called My Mobile Witness that intends to help people, well, prove they are telling the truth. According to the site, it anticipates that someone will somehow document a crime or other questionable situation just before or as it’s happening, and send the documentation (a photo or text message, maybe [...

Tomorrow will be a better day

Posted on November 19, 2008
Hi. I’m the guy who blogs sporadically over at the imbroglio. Gideon has been busy working and focusing on Connecticut criminal law on his main blog so I volunteered to help out a little here at PD Stuff to keep the PD news and errata flowing. My goal is to increase the posting frequency here [...

Public Defender?s Office needs funds

Posted on October 18, 2008
From WWLTV.com: “Prosecuting criminals is an important part of keeping order in the city,” said Ken Foster, anti-crime advocate and co-founder of Silence Is Violence. But Foster acknowledges that doesn’t tell the whole story. “The other side of the coin is the Public Defenders Office...

Standards on public defenders issued

Posted on October 18, 2008
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 [...

MO public defenders will begin refusing clients

Posted on October 18, 2008
And the merry go round continues: Beginning this week, public defender offices across Missouri will be able to refuse new clients as they try to deal with huge backlogs of cases. The Missouri Public Defender Commission approved a policy in July that allows local offices to opt out of new cases if they exceed maximum caseload capacity [...

And so it finally begins

Posted on October 18, 2008
From public defender blogger “A Daddy, A Mommy, And A Tater Tot“: The trial of the State v. Reed, second degree murder, starts tomorrow morning in Mohave County Superior Court. I am second chair to my boss, Dana, and it will be my first experience trying a felony case to a jury...

State lawyers in FL, GA face furloughs

Posted on October 14, 2008
From law.com: As state budgets in Florida and Georgia are slashed, their criminal justice systems are taking a hit. Hundreds of prosecutors and assistant public defenders in Georgia and Florida are facing one-day-a-month furloughs — forced unpaid leave — through the end of the year...

Assistant public defender receives award

Posted on October 14, 2008
From Democrat and Chronicle.com: An assistant Monroe County public defender has been honored by the New York State Bar Association as a lawyer who provides extraordinary legal services to low-income and disadvantaged clients. Andre Vitale, 39, received the Denison Ray Award from the state Bar Association for his work in the Public Defender’s Office...

Public defender wants video link to jail

Posted on October 14, 2008
From KOLNKGIN.com: The Hall County public defender’s office is asking county supervisors to consider a video connection from that office to the jail. The request from Public Defender Gerard Piccolo comes as defense attorneys have to drive more to see clients because the county’s new jail is on a busy highway outside of the downtown government center...

SCOTUS to review speedy trial issue

Posted on October 14, 2008
From the Cook County Public Defenders Blog: The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear, and will most certainly overrule, and odd decision of the Vermont Supreme Court dismissing a conviction on speedy trial grounds because of delays attributed solely to the defendant?s public defenders...

New pd blog posts

Posted on October 14, 2008
Here are the new public defender blog posts: a public defenderA Public Defender’s Life in AlaskaA Year in the LifeAbolish the Death PenaltyArbitrary and CapriciousBetween A Laugh And A TearBlonde JusticeCook County Public Defenders BlogDefending the PublicDefending Those PeopleDefense Newsletter BlogDoubtslingerthe Dream AntillesFive Borough DefenseGo West Young TexHammers and Scalesthe imbroglioIndefensibleInfinity RanchIpse DixitJayKansas DefendersKansas Federal DefenderlawbabeakNinth [...