SUN EDITORIAL:

Aiding indigent clients

Study recommends public defender staff increases in Clark, Washoe counties

Sunday, July 12, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

For some time the overwhelming caseloads of the public defender’s offices in Clark and Washoe counties have raised concern about the quality of legal assistance their indigent clients receive.

The problem is that it has been difficult to determine how many attorneys are needed to bring the counties up to national caseload standards.

Those questions were answered in a study released Wednesday by the Spangenberg Group of West Newton, Mass., which specializes in criminal justice research, and the Center for Justice, Law and Society at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

Commissioned by the two counties, the study projected that Clark County would need the full-time equivalent of 129 to 188 attorneys to adequately handle its public defender caseload, far more than the 98 now employed. Washoe, with the equivalent of 39 full-time attorneys, needs a staff of 48 to 67 to do its job properly.

The researchers also found that both counties need more support staff to meet typical public defender standards. Clark County, for instance, has one investigator for every six attorneys, whereas no more than four attorneys per investigator is common.

“There is not sufficient funding in either of the two counties to assure that all public defense attorneys can measure up to the performance standards recently adopted by the Nevada Supreme Court,” the study concluded.

It is clear from these results that Clark and Washoe counties need more money to serve indigent defendants properly. This is a pressing matter because the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that indigent defendants in criminal cases have a right to adequate legal counsel.

A bill that would have transferred those costs to the state died in the Nevada Legislature this year.

Now that the study has been released, lawmakers should revisit this issue to determine how to provide indigent defendants the best public defender services possible.

Discussion: 9 comments so far…

By geezelouise

7/12/09 at 7:33 a.m.

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This is the 3rd or 4th study of this issue I have seen. What good are all these studies if the end result is the same and nothing is done about it?

Even our own supreme court has a report on it, which the DA's fought tooth and nail to dumb down.

Even the salaries for Public Defenders is less than that of the DA's.

The entire system is unfair. How then does anyone expect equal justice under the law.
By positivechange

7/12/09 at 8:05 a.m.

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The Nevada Department of Corrections is filled with prisoners who get only minutes with their overloaded public defenders.

Have you ever seen your tax dollars at work in court? It's nothing like Raising the Bar on TV. No deep thought, passion or sincerity in this process. To me, it feels like a factory assembly line. Please visit and see for yourself.

Public defenders leaf hurriedly through their notes in the courtroom and whisper briefly to their indigent clients just prior to defending them.

Isn't it all about plea bargaining these days, plea bargains made out of fear by the indigent who need help, not prison sentences, often increased by the loving Nevada parole board?

Poor, blind, dignified justice. Torn and tattered. What a shame. What a sham. Who will stop this? Sadly, nobody I know of in Nevada.
By lry

7/12/09 at 8:06 a.m.

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maybe if all elected officials accused of wrongdoing were required to be represented by the public defender as condition of office that requirement would provoke some change, and frantically so.
By Tonja

7/12/09 at 9:29 a.m.

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This same group came out with a study a few years ago showing that less than 1 percent of the cases ever go to trial. The question is this, how can a defendant who has maintained their innocent receive any kind of adequate representation if the trial Public Defender has seldom if ever been before a jury trial? Just recently in Washoe County a judge ordered the District Attorney to turn entire file in a case. It does appear that the prosecuting attorney intentionally withheld all of the exculpatory evidence that would have cleared of the crime 21 years ago. Had the public defender in this case had the time to do her job this would not have happened.
By KillerB

7/12/09 at 9:36 a.m.

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All good posts, a nice change from the usual lynch mob/herd mentality.

I add only two points -- 1) with the UNLV law school right here, why does it take a Virginia university to give us this study? and 2) this shows the short-sighted nature of the legislature -- so many crimes, so little money allotted to deal with them properly.

Indigent representation is not a privilege. Our criminal system is adversarial with a presumption of innocence. The same state that prosecutes must also take its responsibility of substantive due process quite seriously or risk teh consequences.
By geenab65

7/12/09 at 9:08 p.m.

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Nicely said Killer B!!
By spartacusproject

7/12/09 at 9:47 p.m.

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Ladies & Gentlemen: These are really some insightful comments. Your questions of why so many studies come to light and nothing is ever done with them.

In my opinion the Law Enforcement lobbyists are just too strong. They use our tax dollars to woo the legislators, instead of the intended use of controlling crime. However, they continue to have their hand out stating: We need more!"

This country have been told so many times the police need more that $$ we don't even fight it anymore. How foolish we are!

A good many thieves and murders are within our law enforcement. In Las Vegas alone there has been 145 murders by police in the name of the Law. 17 year old kids shot in the back running away from police in handcuffs. A man on the sidewalk with his legs crossed, hands in the air, complying with all commands--is shot in the back by police because the cop thought he was going for a gun. A woman on her knees in Henderson, driving an ice cream truck killed in front of her children, by some trigger happy fool/cop, with 12 of his buddy's to help him control this distraught woman is beyond belief. All were found by a coroner's jury to be justified.

Does anyone here today really think the state of Nevada is ever going to provide a realistic pool of public defenders? The public defenders are good at dealing a man's life away, destroying any chance of an appeal. They protect the rights of the accused, but destroy any chance of getting an innocent person going home, because they are incapable of putting on a defense, because they don't know how. The same goes for the paid defense attorneys, too, in Nevada. They take your money and forget about you until trial, and then, do they have a deal for you. That isn't just my opinion, but most of the persons I know.

So what are we going to do about it? Beats the hell out of me--I've tried, with little success.
You can't count on the UNLV law school to provide useful assistance for their graduating students. The ACLU is beyond useless, but they are Johnny on the Spot when it comes to protecting the rights of street vendors and/or street entertainers. How wonderful. Yet, they continue to seek donations for their organization. Want help from the ACLU: "Dry up your contributions." Let them earn your trust.
Again, not just my opinion.

The answer may not be in these comments, but it can start you thinking about how your tax dollars are spent. For the record: Nobody ever stated the District Attorney's Office hasn't got enough prosecutors.

Something to think about...
By KillerB

7/12/09 at 10:17 p.m.

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geenab65 - thanx

spartacusproj -- sounds like the voice of experience. Too bad it's mostly true.

Again, until the body politic, where the real power is, wakes up and acts -- not likely with the herd mentality so prevalent here -- nothing will change. The Police State will continue to expand and our freedoms erode accordingly.
By geezelouise

7/13/09 at 7:10 a.m.

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I agree Spartacus, KillerB.

We are living in a Police State, and the scales are tipped on the side of law enforcement and prosecution.

These are sad and scary days in our nation's history. My hope is that someday enough people will speak out and become a force to be reckoned with.