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Class Action Alleging Unconstitutional Michigan Indigent Defense System Survives Summary Judgment by Michigan’s Court of Appeals has upheld the denial of a summary judgment motion filed by state officials in a class action lawsuit that claims indigent defendants subject to felony prosecutions in trial courts in three Michigan counties have …
Article • November 15, 2009 • from PLN November, 2009
Georgia Attorneys Abandoning Indigent Defendants by David Reutter by David M. Reutter For almost 50 years, following the Supreme Court’s 1963 decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, criminal defendants have had a constitutional right to legal representation. However, Georgia lawmakers have decided that as a result of the state’s budget shortfall …
Article • October 15, 2009 • from PLN October, 2009
Ohio County Jail Agrees to Pay $75,000 For Locking Up Poor by On April 30, 2009, Hamilton County, Ohio agreed to settle a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of over 600 individuals who were jailed for non-payment of a fine without first being afforded an attorney or hearing to …
Indigent Texas Prisoners May No Longer be Required to Repay Cost of Court-Appointed Counsel by by Bill Habern On March 11, 2009, the Texas Court of Appeals in Amarillo issued an opinion in a case involving Gilbert Alexander Perez, an indigent defendant. Perez raised two issues on appeal. First was …
Missouri Public Defenders Not Immune from Client Suits by In a case of first impression, the Missouri Court of Appeals held that state public defenders are not entitled to official immunity for acts committed during their representation of indigent criminal defendants. Missouri public defender Arthur Allen represented Bernardo Costa, an …
State, Not County, Required to Pay Attorney Fees in Georgia Death Penalty Cases by On March 9, 2009, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s order holding the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council (“Council”), in contempt for refusing to pay two defense lawyers in a death penalty case. The …
Marsden Hearing Required When Defendant Puts Forward Plausible Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claim by On April 11, 2008, the Court of Appeal of the State of California, Fifth District, remanded a criminal case for a hearing to determine whether an attorney was ineffective for failing to call two witnesses in …
Article • June 15, 2009 • from PLN June, 2009
Cost of Defending Federal Death Penalty Cases on the Rise by Brandon Sample The cost of defending federal death penalty cases has increased sharply since 1998, according to a preliminary report by the Judicial Conference Committee on Defender Services. Congress first revived the federal death penalty in 1988, authorizing capital …
"Institutionalization" Fails as Criminal Defense at Trial and on Appeal by On May 14, 2008, a California court of appeals upheld the conviction of a man who said he committed an inept bank robbery because he wanted to return to prison. Horace Bordelon, a California state prisoner, spent seven years …
Article • April 15, 2009
Florida Supreme Court Rules Secondary Public Defenders Office Constitutional by The Supreme Court of Florida has ruled constitutional the creation of a back-up to the public defenders office. The Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Inc. filed suit, alleging that the state had violated article V, section 18 of the …
Article • February 15, 2009
Nevada Seeks Non Judicial, Independent Appointment of Public Defenders by The Nevada Supreme Court ordered the creation of an Indigent Defense Commission (IDC) in 2007 to study and make suggestions regarding concerns for the selection, appointment, compensation, qualifications, performance standards and caseloads of public defenders. The Public Defender's Office was …
Sixth Circuit Outlines Exceptions to Heck Favorable-Termination Doctrine by Sixth Circuit Outlines Exceptions to Heck Favorable-Termination Doctrine The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has held the favorable-termination doctrine does not apply to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 actions brought by prisoners who were foreclosed from challenging their incarceration in a habeas …
Article • November 15, 2008 • from PLN November, 2008
CA Justice Commission: “Low bid, flat fee” Defense Attorney Hiring Scheme Shortchanges Indigent Criminal Defendants by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice (Commission) charged that the practice of California counties to use competitive bidding for private attorneys to represent indigent criminal …
Crack Cocaine Offenders Denied Representation for Sentence Reductions by Brandon Sample Crack Cocaine Offenders Denied Representation for Sentence Reductions by Brandon Sample In the wake of the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s decision to reduce penalties for federal crack cocaine offenses, and to make those changes retroactive effective March 3, 2008, crack …
Montana Public Defender's Deposition Subject to Public Scrutiny by The Billings Gazette, a Montana newspaper, sued in state court to compel disclosure of a deposition given by Yellowstone County's chief public defender, Sanford Selvey in connection with a civil action which resulted in Selvey's resignation as public defender. The trial …
Study Finds Federal Defenders Outperform CJA Attorneys by Indigent federal criminal defendants represented by court-appointed private attorneys ?are, on average, more likely to be found guilty and? to receive longer sentences? than defendants represented by public defenders, according to a new study by a Harvard economist. The study was conducted …
Article • January 15, 2008
OH Prisoner's Attorney's Rule 11 Sanctions Nullified by Jeffrey Salkil was arrested for drunk driving and placed in the jail for Madison County, Ohio. Because he refused to submit to urinalysis testing, his driver's license was suspended. He completed an affidavit of indigency and asked to have a lawyer appointed …
Negligent Public Defender Defense Against Dirty Los Angeles Cops Nets Falsely Convicted Man $6.5 Million; Court Vacates Verdict Million; Court Vacates Verdict by John Dannenberg Negligent Public Defender Defense Against Dirty Los Angeles Cops Nets Falsely Convicted Man $6.5 Million; Court Vacates Verdict by John E. Dannenberg A Los Angeles …
No State-Paid Attorneys for Post-conviction Relief in Capital Cases by The U.S. Supreme Court held that indigent death row prisoners had no constitutional right to state-paid counsel in order to pursue post- conviction relief. Prisoners on Virginia's death row brought a § 1983 action against state officials alleging they had …
State Death Row Prisoner Not Entitled to Appointment of Federal Counsel for Clemency by State Death Row Prisoner Not Entitled to Appointment of Federal Counsel for Clemency The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that a state prisoner sentenced to death is not entitled to the appointment of federally funded …
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