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: Arbitrary and Capricious

ID: human costs of caseload cost-cutting

By Skelly

From the Twin Falls Times-News:'Lowest rung on the ladder'Michelle Mellinthin was no angel. Charged with grand theft, meth possession and forging a bank card, her public defender in Canyon County didn't waste time finding out if she was actually guilty of all those charges, the Idaho Supreme Court later determined. So when a county prosecutor offered an early plea bargain, the public defender leaped at it. Her attorney refused to wait for the state lab to finish testing a white crystal substance found in her possession. Had he waited, he would have learned the substance was not meth.A judge ruled that it was too late and let the guilty plea stand. After that, the same public defender and a second one each failed to help her file a direct appeal...continue to full post

Full post as published by Arbitrary and Capricious on March 23, 2008 (boomark / email).