State's public defender warns department is in crisis

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The director of Missouri's public defenders is warning the state's chronically underfunded system for representing poor people has become a "house of cards" that could face a federal lawsuit if it's not improved.

The Office of the State Public Defender is asking for a funding boost of more than $25 million for the fiscal year that begins in July, but Gov. Jay Nixon's budget proposal calls for a $1.5 million increase to the department. Most of it slated for "representation costs," although he isn't proposing to add more full-time employees.

Michael Barrett, director of the Office of the State Public Defender, said his department's caseload calls for almost twice as many attorneys than he can hire, and the department's high turnover exacerbates the problem.

Barrett said Friday unless the legislature boosts funding, the state could face a federal lawsuit from people claiming they didn't get adequate legal representation.

"We don't want to go there; I want to be clear on that," Barrett said, "I desperately want this to be reconciled" through the traditional budgetary process.

He said long-term funding shortages have left his department in "crisis mode" for years. He pointed to a stream of studies chronicling the state's shortfalls:

• A 2013 report from the National Juvenile Defense Center said Missouri's indigent youth are "systematically denied counsel throughout the state."
• A 2014 American Bar Association study estimated Missouri's public defenders spend less than a quarter of the time needed to be "reasonably effective" on some felony cases.
• A 2015 U.S. Department of Justice investigation of the St. Louis County Family Court asserted "the staggering caseload of the sole public defender" contributed to an unconstitutional denial of due process.

"Those are pretty good exhibits to be submitting in support of, y'know, any kind of federal lawsuit," Barrett said.

The New Orleans and Louisiana public defenders offices are facing such a lawsuit after they began turning down new cases, citing a lack of resources to do the work. The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing three clients on a waiting list for an attorney, has said the goal is not to force public defenders to represent people they cannot handle, but to highlight the ongoing "constitutional crisis."

During a Senate hearing Tuesday on the public defender budget, lawmakers said this issue should be a priority.

"If this trend does not change, we are going to get to a position where convictions are going to start being thrown out, and defendants are going to start being released," said Sen. Kurt Schaefer, the Columbia Republican who leads the Senate Appropriations Committee and is running for attorney general.

Even a small boost could bring significant relief, Barrett said. And spending more on public defenders would reduce the prison population, saving money in the long run, he said, though recent history is not encouraging.

Spending on public defenders has increased by about $2.4 million while Nixon's been in office, from about $36 million in fiscal year 2010 to about $38.4 million in fiscal year 2015. Meanwhile, the Department of Corrections' expenditures have grown by about $63 million, according to budget documents. Nixon has proposed spending $721 million on corrections in his final budget -- about $7 million more than the department has asked for.

Gubernatorial spokesman Scott Holste said Nixon's proposal to increase the public defender's budget represented a 4 percent increase over last year's appropriations, while the Department of Corrections' proposed increase is 1.6 percent.

Last fiscal year, Nixon restricted more than $3.4 million from the Office of the State Public Defender. All the money was eventually released, but most of it -- about $2.9 million -- was unfrozen too late to spend before the June 30 deadline.