While one county in Missouri will start next week to use private lawyers to handle criminal court cases of those who cannot afford an attorney, the head of the Missouri Public Defender Office said not to expect this to happen in other counties, despite legislative efforts to make it so.
Michael Barrett said he decided to do this in Texas County due to the actions of Judge Douglas Gaston, who he said has "run off four assistant public defenders who all stated that they either be reassigned or quit due to the judge's outbursts and threats against them."
Barrett said in Texas County judges will make a determination of indigency and, if found to be indigent, a competent attorney of the court's choosing will be selected for appointment. If the public defenders office is notified on the appointment order, then the office will pay the attorney the approved fee.
"This is not a strategy to effectively deliver indigent legal services; it is an exercise of my affirmative obligation to protect my employees, who turn over at a rate of more than 20 percent a year," Barrett added.
Gaston said he was unable to comment about this matter, citing the Code of Judicial Conduct.
Missouri's public defender office has been underfunded for years, leading to heavy caseloads. The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri filed a lawsuit alleging the system fails to provide even "minimally adequate representation to indigent defendants."
Nearly a year ago, the Missouri Coalition for the Right to Counsel was created as a way to help public defenders by facilitating and encouraging law firms to volunteer their attorneys to represent public defender clients, thus easing the system's caseload. While Barrett, the ACLU and members of the judiciary were pleased with this move, they agreed it was not enough to fix the problems the system faces.
Last year, Public Defender Justin Carver, who heads the District 19 public defender's office that serves Cole, Miller and Moniteau counties, began asking judges to give his office some caseload relief because the lawyers in his office, including himself, can't provide a valid, legal defense for all of the clients they've been assigned.
The prosecutors in all three counties argue their offices have larger caseloads than the public defender's office because they also have cases where the defendant has a private practice attorney and they handle misdemeanor cases where a jail sentence isn't a possibility.
Some judges in the three Mid-Missouri counties have ordered a private attorney to represent an indigent client in certain cases.
While in Cole County there is no waiting list of cases for the public defender to take, there are 50 cases in Miller County. No figures for Moniteau County were available.
Privatizing public defender duties has been previously considered by lawmakers. About 15 percent of the state public defender system's budget already goes to contracts with private attorneys. However, fewer than half of Missouri's counties have lawyers available to accept contracts.
The proposal introduced in the House this year, which is sponsored by state Rep. Robert Ross, of Texas County, would hand over approximately 90 percent of the state's public defender cases to private lawyers.
"In many cases, you already have established attorneys who are not only qualified but then would love that opportunity for business," he said. "They're in a much better position to perform this function."
Barrett told the House Budget Committee last week that private attorneys charge $200-$500 an hour to handle cases, with the less-common serious crimes more expensive than cases such as low-level felonies and misdemeanors. By contrast, it cost the state $325 per case to represent most indigent defendants last year, according to the office's annual report.