Pubdate: Fri, 17 Dec 2004
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
Copyright: 2004 Lexington Herald-Leader
Contact:  http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240
Author: Bill Estep

PUBLIC DEFENDERS SEEK MORE FUNDS

Big Caseloads Threaten Quality Of Work, They Say

SOMERSET - Public defenders pressed their case yesterday for more
funding, saying large caseloads are threatening the quality of legal
help for indigent people accused of crimes and causing great stress for
attorneys who represent them.

The caseload for attorneys in the Department of Public Advocacy jumped
12 percent, to an average of 489 cases per public defender, the most
recent fiscal year. That is nearly twice the recommended level, said
Ernie Lewis, head of the department.

DPA attorneys met in Somerset yesterday to discuss the problem. The
session, called "Justice Jeopardized," was the first of several
planned meetings around the state on the issue, but the only one
scheduled before the 2005 legislative session, Lewis said.

"We're afraid that because of our caseloads, an innocent man is going
to be convicted," Lewis said after the meeting.

Public defenders said they sometimes don't have the opportunity to
interview clients before they come to court, or to perform other work
needed to be fully prepared to represent people, such as interviewing
witnesses. That means some clients aren't getting the kind of
representation the Constitution requires.

"I am spread much too thin to provide careful guidance to every
client. And careful guidance is what the right to counsel promises,"
Jennifer Hall, a public defender who covers Clark County, said in
remarks prepared for the meeting.

Hall said she doesn't have time to arrange help such as drug-or
mental-health treatment for her clients -- something that private
attorneys hired by defendants with money are able to do.

The problems raise the spectre that justice depends on a person's
ability to pay, defenders said.

"I fear that my clients may serve jail time for offenses when private
counsel's clients may get the help they need," Hall said in her remarks.

Lewis said the war on drugs is a big factor in the increased
caseload.

Detectives with the Operation UNITE program alone, for instance, have
opened more that 1,300 criminal cases in 29 counties in Eastern and
Southern Kentucky since the first of the year. And police say problems
with methamphetamine production and abuse also have spread rapidly,
leading to more arrests.

The federal government provided funding for more prosecutors as a
result of the UNITE initiative, but the public-defender system did not
get a corresponding increase.

The answer, Lewis said, is money to hire more public defenders. An
increase of $4.6 million in funding for DPA would allow the department
to reduce caseloads to a more manageable level, Lewis said.

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, has questioned whether
judges grant defendants a lawyer at taxpayer expense too easily,
though other lawmakers have said DPA needs more money.
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