1 / 11

A Capital Idea! Establishing a Capital Public Defender Office in Your Jurisdiction

A Capital Idea! Establishing a Capital Public Defender Office in Your Jurisdiction. Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense Workshop 2009 October 22, 2009. Current Method for Capital Indigent Defense in most counties. Assigned Counsel

tatum
Download Presentation

A Capital Idea! Establishing a Capital Public Defender Office in Your Jurisdiction

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. A Capital Idea! Establishing a Capital Public Defender Office in Your Jurisdiction Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense Workshop 2009 October 22, 2009

  2. Current Method for Capital Indigent Defense in most counties • Assigned Counsel • Two attorneys required to be appointed for each capital case from the list of attorneys approved by the regional selection committee • Cost varies depending on number and complexity of case • Number of attorneys are limited in rural areas • Private counsel indicate practice is strained during representation in capital case

  3. Advantages of Public Defender • Budget Predictability • Quality controls over representation • Availability of attorneys to accept appointment • Primary oversight responsibility to reside in entity other than the courts • Hands-on administration and supervision • Institutional Resource

  4. Disadvantages of Public Defender • Status quo • Start-up costs • Small caseloads (if one rural county tried to start public defender) • Cost may be more than usually spend (i.e. county does not normally have capital murder case each year)

  5. Regional Map

  6. Regional Public Defender • One office to serve all 85 counties in the 7th and 9th Administrative Judicial Region • Appointed by the District Judge to any capital murder case filed in the county • Central Office located in Lubbock County • Office consists of Chief Public Defender, 4 Attorneys, 2 Investigators, 2 Mitigation Specialists and 2 Legal Assistants

  7. Regional Public Defender Proposal • Staffing based upon caseload • Total budget • Year 1 - $650,685 (includes set-up costs) • Year 2-5 $978,886 • Cost allocated based upon formula: • 50% of cost based on percentage of total population • 50% of cost based upon percentage of 10-year average of capital cases filed • Minimum of $1,000

  8. Regional Public Defender Proposal • Oversight Board consisting of Regional Selection Committees of 7th and 9th Administrative Judicial Region (with addition of 2 County Judges and 2 Commissioners) • Selected Chief Public Defender • Rest of staff selected by Chief Public Defender

  9. Funding • Cash Match Funding for four years • Interlocal agreements established between Lubbock County and other counties • Counties provide cash match portion to Lubbock County, which will substantiate with Task Force • Lubbock County to provide office space and administrative support services to the office (in-kind)

  10. Critical Steps • Judicial Leadership • Criminal Defense Bar Support • Dedicated Oversight Board • Good Chief • Flexibility

  11. Questions? Contact Information: David Slayton – 806-775-1020

More Related