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Why New Orleans public defenders will not take criminal cases of city's poorest | Why New Orleans public defenders will not take criminal cases of city's poorest |
(35 minutes later) | |
The New Orleans office that represents poor criminal defendants has started refusing to take on serious cases – murder, rape, manslaughter – due to a lack of funds, and the crisis may soon spread from Louisiana to other states. | The New Orleans office that represents poor criminal defendants has started refusing to take on serious cases – murder, rape, manslaughter – due to a lack of funds, and the crisis may soon spread from Louisiana to other states. |
A flawed funding scheme, rising caseloads, and – strange as it sounds – safe driving in New Orleans have all conspired to leave the Orleans public defenders office unable to handle big cases. So this month, the office announced that it would turn away many facing serious felony charges, particularly those with potential life sentences. | |
Criminal defendants who have been deemed indigent have a constitutional right to a lawyer, which should mean that those facing charges can be prosecuted without one. | Criminal defendants who have been deemed indigent have a constitutional right to a lawyer, which should mean that those facing charges can be prosecuted without one. |
As a result, the city’s most desperate people – and by definition the poorest – now sit in limbo, waiting in jail an indefinite length of time for their day in court. | As a result, the city’s most desperate people – and by definition the poorest – now sit in limbo, waiting in jail an indefinite length of time for their day in court. |
The American Civil Liberties Union has launched a federal lawsuit against New Orleans’s chief public defender, Derwyn Bunton, and the state’s lead defender, James Dixon. The ACLU wants the US district court in Baton Rouge to clarify that abandoning indigent defendants is unconstitutional. “It seems clear. It’s in the sixth amendment,” said Brandon Buskey, the ACLU attorney leading the case. “But believe it or not, this circumstance has never been ruled on before.” | |
The court’s ruling will be a national watershed because Louisiana is not alone in its troubles, according to the ACLU. The group is considering, or has already brought, similar suits in California, Idaho, Florida, Missouri, Michigan and New York. “These are places putting in enough resources to arrest people, but not enough to afford them the right to counsel,” he said. | |
So far the crisis is most acute in New Orleans, the only place where public defenders have ruled out accepting an entire category of cases. “It’s been festering for as long as anyone can remember,” Bunton said. A study in 2013, for instance, showed that New Orleans’ public defenders had an average of just seven minutes to prepare for each new case. | |
When public defenders have to reject or postpone cases, people accused of major crimes wait, at home if they can afford bail, and in prison if they can’t. | When public defenders have to reject or postpone cases, people accused of major crimes wait, at home if they can afford bail, and in prison if they can’t. |
The trouble is that cases age. With time they evolve and deteriorate. | The trouble is that cases age. With time they evolve and deteriorate. |
For instance, in November at Bunny Friend playground in New Orleans, a suspected gang shootout erupted and left 17 people injured. On the word of a witness police arrested Joseph Allen, 32, charged him with 17 counts of attempted murder, and jailed him on a $1.7m bond. | For instance, in November at Bunny Friend playground in New Orleans, a suspected gang shootout erupted and left 17 people injured. On the word of a witness police arrested Joseph Allen, 32, charged him with 17 counts of attempted murder, and jailed him on a $1.7m bond. |
But he wasn’t there, Allen said. He wasn’t even in the city. He was in Houston with his pregnant wife, shopping for baby clothes. | But he wasn’t there, Allen said. He wasn’t even in the city. He was in Houston with his pregnant wife, shopping for baby clothes. |
His defense counsel eventually found surveillance tapes at three Houston-area stores that proved Allen correct, the prosecutor dropped all the charges against him, and he walked free on 9 December. | His defense counsel eventually found surveillance tapes at three Houston-area stores that proved Allen correct, the prosecutor dropped all the charges against him, and he walked free on 9 December. |
But stores often wipe and recycle security tapes every week, or even daily. If Allen had been waiting for the wheels of justice to come unstuck, those tapes might have disappeared forever and – considering police had an eyewitness – he might have spent the rest of his life in prison. | But stores often wipe and recycle security tapes every week, or even daily. If Allen had been waiting for the wheels of justice to come unstuck, those tapes might have disappeared forever and – considering police had an eyewitness – he might have spent the rest of his life in prison. |
“That’s true,” Bunton said. New Orleans’s chief public defender said he takes the problem personally. “I grew up poor,” he said. “There’s no such thing as rich-people justice and poor-people justice. So, we made a decision to start refusing cases rather than give someone an inferior defense.” | “That’s true,” Bunton said. New Orleans’s chief public defender said he takes the problem personally. “I grew up poor,” he said. “There’s no such thing as rich-people justice and poor-people justice. So, we made a decision to start refusing cases rather than give someone an inferior defense.” |
Buskey, the ACLU lawyer, said that however eager Bunton is for change, the solution lies beyond his reach. “The state has got to step up,” Buskey said. “There has got to be legislation.” | Buskey, the ACLU lawyer, said that however eager Bunton is for change, the solution lies beyond his reach. “The state has got to step up,” Buskey said. “There has got to be legislation.” |
The state, unlike any other state in the country, relies almost entirely on revenues from traffic tickets to fund public defense. | The state, unlike any other state in the country, relies almost entirely on revenues from traffic tickets to fund public defense. |
“It’s inherently unstable,” Bunton said. And the scheme puts the government at odds with its people: In order to keep functioning, the public defenders’ office needs people to drive hazardously. And apparently they’re not. In the past several years traffic citations in Louisiana have plunged, leaving Bunton’s office and 41 others across the state strapped for cash. “That’s right. It’s absurd,” Bunton said. “If people drive safely, we go bankrupt.” | “It’s inherently unstable,” Bunton said. And the scheme puts the government at odds with its people: In order to keep functioning, the public defenders’ office needs people to drive hazardously. And apparently they’re not. In the past several years traffic citations in Louisiana have plunged, leaving Bunton’s office and 41 others across the state strapped for cash. “That’s right. It’s absurd,” Bunton said. “If people drive safely, we go bankrupt.” |
So far a dozen of those offices have implemented cost-saving plans, from hiring freezes to slowing the uptake of new cases, to refusing them outright. The Orleans office’s budget peaked in 2012 at $9m. Every year since it has tumbled another $1m, Bunton said – so it has been nearly halved, in four years. Cost-saving measures haven’t been able to stanch a free-bleeding budget. | So far a dozen of those offices have implemented cost-saving plans, from hiring freezes to slowing the uptake of new cases, to refusing them outright. The Orleans office’s budget peaked in 2012 at $9m. Every year since it has tumbled another $1m, Bunton said – so it has been nearly halved, in four years. Cost-saving measures haven’t been able to stanch a free-bleeding budget. |
That has presented Bunton with a quandary that’s more than financial. “We have run into the ethical now,” he said. | That has presented Bunton with a quandary that’s more than financial. “We have run into the ethical now,” he said. |
As the budget shrank, his senior attorneys – the best, the most experienced – simply found better-paying jobs elsewhere. That left a green, unexperienced staff. “I’m not going to take a complex, serious case like murder and give it to a junior lawyer,” Bunton said. “I just won’t do it.” | |
Louisiana, like most places, has a drastic disparity between funding for public defenders and funding for prosecutors and law enforcement, even though some 80% of defendants are too poor to afford their own lawyer. “The local parishes are compelled to contribute funding of the prosecutor in their district,” Buskey said. “Contributing to public defense is optional though.” | |
That’s a problem that may only be addressed on the statehouse floor, Buskey said. “There’s an inequality of funding,” he said. “That’s it.” | That’s a problem that may only be addressed on the statehouse floor, Buskey said. “There’s an inequality of funding,” he said. “That’s it.” |