Jefferson, Lewis, and Sullivan Counties Found Unable To Meet National Standards For Providing Public Defense

ALBANY, NY (05/20/2008)(readMedia)-- Sullivan, Lewis, and Jefferson counties all fall short when measured against the American Bar Association's Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System, according to a set of report cards prepared by the Washington D.C. National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA) and released today by the New York State Defenders Association (NYSDA), which paid for the study. While the counties vary as to which principles they are unable to meet, the recurring theme of the report cards is that the counties lack the resources to control public defender caseloads, provide adequate training to public defense lawyers, ensure parity between prosecution and public defense so that individuals accused of criminal offenses or improper parenting can properly defend against those accusations, and meet other national standards.

Jefferson County Public Defender lawyers handle far more cases than standards allow, its report card notes. For example, one defender was said to have handled 1765 cases just in one city court in 2007; that lawyer's total caseload, under national standards allowing no more than 400 misdemeanors per year, should be spread among 5.5 attorneys. Felony attorneys handled alone caseloads that under national standards would have required 3.5 attorneys. Contributing to the lawyers' workloads is the absence of investigative resources, meaning the lawyers have to investigate their cases themselves, a very inefficient use of staff.

Like Jefferson County, Lewis County has no workload standards, its report card notes. Unlike Jefferson County, whose Public Defender Office keeps information on caseloads but has no mechanisms in place to enforce any limits, Lewis County lacks even the most basic caseload information; no one tracks the number of cases handled by the county's public defense system as a whole, much less the number handled by each of the Public Defender attorneys, the contract conflict attorney, and assigned counsel.

Sullivan County also lacks caseload/workload standards. The two offices that provide the bulk of mandated representation are required to handle all cases covered under their respective contracts, the report card says. The result is that the cases of individuals who have a right to counsel are subject to "triage." Data indicated that in 2006, for example, the overall caseload divided by the number of part-time misdemeanor attorneys yielded an average caseload 50% higher than national standards allow for full-time staff lawyers. Full-time attorneys were found to have handled 60% more felonies than the standards permit.

The New York State law that delegates to the counties the State's constitutional duty to provide counsel to those financially unable to hire a lawyer in criminal and some Family Court matters allows counties to use a public defender office, a legal aid society, individual lawyers assigned according to a bar association plan, or some combination of these programs. Regardless of the type of office or program that offers the legal representation mandated by law, quality representation depends on lawyers having the time necessary to hear clients' stories, investigate their cases, and prepare their defenses. Excessive workloads prevent even the best attorneys from devoting the time to each case that is needed. Failure to establish and enforce workload standards are but one of the ways that Lewis, Jefferson, and Sullivan counties are out of compliance with national standards, their respective report cards show.

These counties are not unique. Across New York, counties struggle unsuccessfully to meet the underfunded mandate imposed upon them by the State, as NYSDA has pointed out repeatedly as part of its contractual obligation to the State to "review, assess and analyze the public defense system in the state, identify problem areas and propose solutions in the form of specific recommendations to the Governor, the Legislature, the Judiciary and other appropriate instrumentalities." Over the years, NYSDA has conducted or commissioned many studies of public defense programs as part of its efforts to assist public defense programs and lawyers and their clients.

The three report card counties, as well as six counties that received report cards last November, and Franklin County, which was the subject of a full report in October, were chosen for study because they were not included in the 22 counties that The Spangenberg Group (TSG) visited as part of its statewide study for a commission appointed by Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye in 2004. The reports by TSG and the Kaye Commission in 2006 found that the State's public defense system is an "ongoing crisis." To resolve that crisis, the Kaye Commission recommended creation of a statewide, fully and adequately state-funded public defense system headed by an independent public defense commission, which has yet to come into being.

The report cards issued by NLADA confirm the finding of TSG and the Kaye Commission that a crisis exists. A full report on the nine report card counties, with recommendations as to steps the counties can take in endeavoring to comply with national standards, is to be issued later this year.

The report cards for Jefferson, Lewis, and Sullivan counties, along with the earlier six report cards and the Franklin County report, are available on the NYSDA website, along with links to the Kaye Commission and TSG reports and public defense standards including the ABA's Ten Principles. www.nysda.org.

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