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Dallas Public Defender to lose 2 more positions

An informant brings word that the Dallas Public Defender Office may soon lose two more spots because county commissioners are requiring courts to assign felony PD lawyers 40 felony cases each month. Judge Carter Thompson and Judge Susan Hawk are each cutting a felony trial PD effective in August. See the related agenda items 10(a) & (b) (pdf, pp. 174-179)A report commissioned by the county from the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense said that caseloads recently required in Dallas County were three or more times higher than ?nationally recommended standards? and substantially higher than caseloads at other Texas public defenders. TFID warned earlier this month that maintaining PD caseload levels that high "can pose a serious threat to the indigent?s right to competent counsel...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on July 31, 2008 (boomark / email).