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Indigent Defense in Georgia

By Steve Hall

Bill Rankin writes, "Georgia's public defender system may go back under county control," for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.Calling Georgia's public defender program unsustainable, a legislative oversight panel is recommending that part of the system be transferred back to county control. The proposal comes four years after the state took over the program because many counties were found to be unable to provide an adequate defense of the poor.The Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, which began operating in  2005, has struggled to stay afloat financially and has faced a number of lawsuits. Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome), chair of the oversight panel, said Wednesday that recent court rulings and an advisory opinion by the State Bar of Georgia gave the committee no choice but to propose giving counties renewed responsibilities...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on April 07, 2010 (boomark / email).