Gideon Day 2010 Sees Convergence of Legal and Political Actions

ALBANY, NY (03/18/2010)(readMedia)-- Forty-seven years ago today, the United States Supreme Court issued the landmark decision in Gideon v Wainwright. "We see some reasons to celebrate on this anniversary," said Jonathan E. Gradess, Executive Director of the New York State Defenders Association, "but there is still much to do before the right to counsel promised in Gideon is realized in New York State."

The progress he speaks of includes an ever-broader recognition that New York State's existing public defense system is broken and must be fixed. Specifically, state leaders recognize that the State must do more to protect those who have a constitutional or statutory right to legal representation when they can't afford a lawyer.

The Chief Administrator of the Courts just issued a new rule under a state statute passed last year to implement compliance with caseload caps in New York City. This is a first step in an incremental plan; the proposed Judiciary Budget also includes $10 million to be used to help ensure that public defense lawyers in New York City are not prevented by excessive caseloads from taking the time necessary to provide every client with the quality of representation needed.

The Executive Budget now under discussion in the Legislature includes a proposal for an important, if modest, step toward public defense reform. It calls for an investment in public defense that includes an additional $7 million in state funds for local public defense. That money, as well as funds already designated for public defense services, would be distributed by a board, whose members represent the Executive Branch, the Judiciary, county governments, and public defense, through a new state office.

The need for public defense reform is also gaining recognition from the efforts of the New York Civil Liberties Union, which will argue next week in the Court of Appeals that a lawsuit brought against the State and five counties for deficiencies in public defense should be allowed to proceed. And conflict about proposed changes to the way New York City provides public defense representation has increased public discussion about these vital services there.

"We continue to hear horror stories every day," Gradess said. NYSDA, which seeks to improve the quality and scope of publicly supported legal representation across New York State, offers training, research, and other assistance to public defense lawyers, as well as technical assistance to counties and public defense offices. "No one of the current steps will solve all the problems of the patchwork, county-based system that was condemned in a report to the Chief Judge in 2006. But anything and everything that will help some clients is welcome." Furthermore, he added, "the more that awareness of the problem grows, the more likely it becomes that New York State will eventually do what it takes to ensure justice for all."