Facing ever-mounting caseloads, dozens of public defenders in Oregon walked out of courthouses and into the Statehouse this week to lobby for a bill that would fix a staffing shortage and an outdated contract payment system that has some attorneys representing more than 200 clients at once.
Read moreDemocratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California is introducing legislation, including a $250 million grant program, to ease the burden on public defenders around the country.
Read morePublic defenders for the man accused of murdering 17 people at his former high school in Florida asked a judge to let them withdraw from his case, saying his $432,000 inheritance disqualifies him from receiving the free legal counsel.
Read moreA federal judge has given a man who was civilly confined in a state hospital for 13 years another chance at claims his public defenders mishandled his case so badly it amounts to deliberate indifference.
Read moreSt. Louis County public defenders who say they have too many cases to guarantee criminal defendants’ rights to effective counsel should have their claims heard by Missouri’s highest court, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.
Read moreOakland County sued the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission over new state standards that will require counties to provide additional public defender services, arguing it will be too costly.
Read moreAttorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union and public defenders seemed to agree before the Fifth Circuit on Monday that a waiting list for representation in Louisiana violates poor defendants’ rights to a speedy trial and assistance of counsel.
Read moreThe Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office lacks expert support in handling cases involving noncitizens, increasing their danger of deportation and other immigration-related consequences, a report released Wednesday says.
Read moreNew Mexico’s Chief Public Defender has filed a class action against the judges of Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, which covers Albuquerque, for failing to release felony detainees who wait more than 10 days before being seen by a judge.
Read moreOn a Monday last fall, a group of court watchers with the American Bar Association say they witnessed the machine of a high-volume misdemeanor court in Nashville violating the rights of the poor and those who represented themselves.
Read moreCalifornians accused of a crime but found innocent will no longer have to pay for their public defenders, after Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed a criminal justice-reform law striking the requirement.
Read moreSanta Barbara County refuses to pay overtime to overworked contracted public defenders tasked with handling more than 200 cases each, two such attorneys claim in a federal class action.
Read moreJoanna Krupa of “Real Housewives of Miami” fame is among 20 models suing a Tampa-area swingers club for using their images without permission to promote its business.
Read moreThe San Francisco Public Defender’s Office will launch a new unit dedicated solely to helping detained immigrants fight deportation under a deal approved by the mayor.
Read moreA class action claims a woefully inadequate public defender system in Louisiana is the primary reason the state has the highest incarceration rate in the nation.
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