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Public defender system on trial in Boone County
Nov 03, 2009 (Columbia Daily Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
JEFFERSON CITY -- As the state public defender system reportedly faces a staffing crisis, the Boone County public defender district became the focus of arguments today in a Missouri Supreme Court case.
The question: Does the state public defender system have the right to set its own standards and protocol that, when its caseload grows too burdensome, allows attorneys to refuse certain cases? Judges on the state's high court heard arguments from both sides. The case stems from two events last year in the Boone County Courthouse.
In October 2008, local public defenders determined in conjunction with their state director and the state Public Defender Commission that Boone County had exceeded its maximum caseload for three consecutive months. The public defenders notified the Boone County Circuit Court they would no longer accept probation and parole cases where suspended imposition of sentence had been imposed.
Last November Circuit Judge Gary Oxenhandler and Circuit Judge Gene Hamilton appointed public defenders to represent defendants in just those types of probation and parole cases. In both cases, the public defender's office refused to accept the appointment, citing its rights under the Missouri Code of State Regulations, which allows public defender districts to set a maximum caseload.
The judges contended public defenders were still obliged to take the cases under a Missouri law that says public defenders must provide representation to indigent clients facing probation revocation.
The case is being watched by many other public defender districts in the state. A report released last month by the Virginia-based Spangenberg Group, which studies indigent defense, said the Missouri public defender system is "broken" and "headed for disaster." The group determined that only Mississippi spends less on indigent defense.
That tension was exacerbated by Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of a bill that would have explicitly given the state public defender commission the right to limit its caseload.
Kansas City attorney Antwaun Smith, representing the Boone County public defenders, said in an interview that the caseload system set up by the Public Defender Commission is essential to a lawyer's ability to do his or her job effectively. It does not conflict with state law, he said. "In the statute, the language is that the public defender is mandated to provide quality legal representation to indigent defendants," Smith said. "As a lawyer, if you have too many cases, all those cases suffer and you can't provide quality representation."
Smith also argued that an overburdened lawyer could be faced with breaching professional standards and possibly losing his license.
Arguing for Boone County, Assistant Prosecutor Stephanie Morrell said state law supersedes public defenders' internal rules. "This regulation" establishing the maximum caseload "conflicts with the statute, and so this regulation is not valid," she said.
Morrell questioned why the Boone County office selected probation and parole cases that could result in long prison terms. "These are people that are facing the ultimate revocation of their liberty," she said.
During about 45 minutes of arguments, state Supreme Court judges appeared similarly perplexed by Boone County's choice of probation and parole cases as the first to reject. Two judges wondered how the Public Defender Commission arrived at its maximum caseload figures.
But there appeared to be little disagreement that public defenders have the right to set up a system allowing them to refuse cases. "You can quibble about whether they drew the line in the right place," Judge Michael Wolff said. "But the question is: Who has the right to draw that line?"
Reach T.J. Greaney at 573-815-1719 or e-mail tjgreaney@columbiatribune.com.
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