Judge Finds Missouri Public Defender Waiting List Unconstitutional
The judge stayed the case to give Missouri lawmakers time to approve more funding in hopes of eliminating the waiting list.
Read moreThe judge stayed the case to give Missouri lawmakers time to approve more funding in hopes of eliminating the waiting list.
Read moreA federal court in Florida denied retiring Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein’s request to dismiss a suit brought by Ruby Green, a former assistant public defender, who says she was wrongfully fired over statements she made while campaigning to replace him.
Read moreMissouri’s efforts to reduce the time poor criminal defendants must wait for a public defender are commendable but they don’t make the state’s waiting list constitutional, an ACLU attorney said Wednesday during closing arguments of a two-day bench trial.
Read moreMissouri’s practice of placing poor criminal defendants on a wait list for a public defender was the best option among bad choices in balancing right to counsel with overwhelming caseloads, the former director of the state’s public defender office testified Tuesday in a trial challenging the system.
Read moreA Missouri appeals court reversed the denial of a public defender’s office request for relief from excessive caseloads. While courts cannot review whether the public defender’s office has exceeded a caseload standard, it may consider whether individual public defender attorneys are unable to provide effective assistance of counsel due to caseload issues.
Read moreA Missouri judge has granted class certification to a group of indigent criminal defendants challenging the state’s practice of putting them on a waiting list for a public defender.
Read moreA lawyer for a group of indigent defendants challenging Missouri’s practice of putting them on a waiting list for a public defender urged a state judge Friday morning to let them sue as a class.
Read moreA former assistant public defender sued the Judicial Conference of the United States, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, et al., in federal court, claiming they conspired to violate her civil rights after she truthfully complained of sexual harassment, but “punished” and “intimidated” her for reporting it.
Read moreA year after an electrical fire cut off power and forced a Brooklyn detention center into lockdown, the Second Circuit appeared inclined Tuesday to let the parties mediate a suit over access to public defenders.
Read moreA candidate for Los Angeles District Attorney’s office will be allowed to list her occupation as a federal public defender on the upcoming 2020 primary ballot, after an LA judge rejected a challenge Tuesday from a voter who claims the candidate no longer works in that office.
Read moreA former deputy public defender claims in superior court that his supervisor at the Maricopa County (Ariz.) Public Defender’s Office, et al., fired him after he objected to underrepresentation of Latinos in county jury pools.
Read moreFacing 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.
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