New law meant to alleviate strain on Missouri's public defenders

Missouri lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to a piece of legislation that backers hope will make strides in alleviating some of the pressure on a state public defender system in crisis.

Senate Bill 37, now headed to Gov. Jay Nixon, would authorize the state Public Defender Commission to set maximum caseload standards for public defenders in Missouri, add a member to the currently seven-person commission and eliminate some of the misdemeanor cases that are automatically handed off to public defender's offices.

When caseload limits have been exceeded and there isn't additional money for contract defenders, the state would establish a triage system for defendants to be assigned a lawyer.

In those cases, the courts, instead of public defenders, would be responsible for prioritizing the system list protecting lawyers from any ethical scrutiny, said Cat Kelly, deputy director of the Public Defenders Commission.

"We think it'll be fairly significant," Kelly said of the changes proposed by the new bill.

Currently, if a misdemeanor offense carries with it the possibility of jail time, it is automatically assigned to the public defender's office.

Under the proposed bill, the prosecutor would have to supply notice that he or she intends to actually seek jail time in a misdemeanor case before it would be assigned a public defender, Kelly said.

"It's a way of weeding out the misdemeanor cases that don't involve jail time," she said.

Public defenders in Columbia, Jefferson City and Springfield had been turning away clients because of high caseloads. But a state appeals court last month struck down a state regulation allowing public defenders with high case-loads to opt out of cases.

The public defender's office for District 32, encompassing Perry, Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Scott and Mississippi counties, was among the top 10 most overburdened offices in the state in past years, Kelly said, but a recent decision to add a new lawyer to the office alleviated some of the caseload.

Earlier this year, Chief Justice Laura Denvir Stith warned lawmakers during a joint session that if the state doesn't do something about the public defender system, eventually some criminal defendants could go free because they had to wait too long for a trial.

Rep. Tim Jones, a bill sponsor, said Thursday the measure is an attempted "triage" that helps bring attention to the issue.

"It's probably not going to fix everything, but it is a step in the right direction," said Jones, R-Eureka.

Many of the proposed changes to the public defender system came out of a special legislative committee charged with studying the issue in 2006.

Kelly compared the current caseload problem to a mechanic's shop where customers constantly brought cars in, and the shop could only work on each vehicle for a short time before having to move on to the next one, fixing only what they had time to get to, instead of actually making all the necessary repairs.

"Now, we're actually going to fix cars, we're actually going to investigate these cases, get them resolved," Kelly said.

While the proposed changes don't solve the caseload crisis, Kelly said, they will help guarantee each client gets the effective representation they are entitled to under the constitution because the attorneys won't be overburdened with more cases than they can possibly handle.

It is a tough balance because it may mean clients will wait longer to get that representation, jeopardizing the constitutional right to a speedy trial, Kelly said.

The Missouri House endorsed the proposed public defender changes 139-16, and the Senate approved it with a unanimous vote. Most of the House opposition centered on concerns that it could burden county prosecutors.

Rep. Scott Lipke, a former assistant prosecutor, said he's concerned about the autonomy granted to the Public Defender Commission and the potential financial burden for counties. Lipke, R-Jackson, unsuccessfully tried to strip out a provision in the public defender bill that would add photographs, records and electronic files to the documents prosecutors must turn over to public defenders for free.

Southeast Missourian reporter Bridget DiCosmo contributed to this report.

On the Net:

Legislature: http://www.moga.mo.gov

Public defenders: http://www.publicdefender.mo.gov