Local defender echos call for funding

The lead attorney in the public defender's office in Jackson thinks the state's 350 public defenders are overworked and underpaid.

"The best solution for the legislature is to address our statewide crisis and allocate more funding," says district defender Chris Davis.

Last month the Missouri Public Defender Commission considered temporarily turning away new cases as a way to control the burgeoning caseloads for the state's public defenders, who are appointed to represent criminal defendants who can't afford an attorney. Commissioners voted March 2 against the move, considering it too harsh.

According to Cathy Kelly, a St. Louis deputy director of the Missouri Public Defender System, caseloads have increased by 12,000 cases over the last six years, bringing the total to 88,000 last year. That averages out to about 300 cases for each Missouri public defender.

Davis would like to see the return of a maximum annual caseload of 235 per attorney, what former Gov. John Ashcroft said in 1989 was an ethical number.

Davis said his office fits the state profile. He said the Jackson office, which handles cases in Cape Girardeau, Perry, Scott, Bollinger and Mississippi counties, has 10 lawyers to handle about 2,900 cases each year.

The office has replaced 10 lawyers in the last five years, losing most to private practice where they can make more money while maintaining reasonable caseloads, Davis said. "They were pretty dedicated to what they were doing when they were here. They believed in the system."

The defender's office handles everything from misdemeanor traffic offenses to first-degree murder. Death penalty cases are not handled by public defenders. The office also picks up cases from Poplar Bluff and New Madrid on an as-needed basis.

Seven open murder cases are among the 875 cases defenders are currently juggling, Davis said. The remainder consist of 170 A and B felonies and 400 C and D felonies.

While caseloads have increased, funding for staffing stalled in 2002, he said. He compared the public defender's office to a MASH unit triaging cases to tend to the most serious ones first.

In fiscal year 1997, the office handled 2,000 cases. Davis expects to see 3,000 cases cross his attorneys' desks in fiscal year 2007, which began in July 2006.

Davis has been at the local public defender's office for 11 years. Despite the pressures, he says the job is satisfying. "Sometimes the job can be stressful or frustrating, but it's never boring," he said. "I can go home knowing I'm helping somebody."

That feeling is shared by all the lawyers in the office, he said.

"I think a big part of why people stay is their dedication to helping poor people who are needing an effective defense but can't afford to pay for it."

Jacob Zimmerman spent two years at the public defender's office before going to a private law firm in Clayton, Mo., in 2003. Crushing school loans forced him to leave, he said. But family concerns brought him back to Cape Girardeau five months later. By then he was in better financial shape and could live on a public defender's salary.

Zimmerman said he went to law school intent on becoming a prosecutor.

"I was a fan of the underdog," he said.

Last month, former public defender Jason Tilley left the office after almost six years to open his own practice. School loans and a baby on the way forced Tilley to leave a job he says he loved. "I wanted to provide more for my family, which is why I went to law school in the first place," he said. "It was a very difficult decision. I agonized over it."

Tilley said the job of a public defender is tough but rewarding.

"I am proud of what I did, of what I accomplished and the lawyer that it helped me become," he said.

carel@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127