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Monday, June 04, 2007

Ind. Courts - More on: St. Joseph County felony public defenders overwhelmed [Updated]

The South Bend Tribune today has Part 2 of Pablo Ros' report on St. Joseph County's public defender program. (See ILB report on Sunday's story here.) Some quotes from the lengthy story exploring the pros and cons of involvement in the state reimbursement program:

St. Joseph County's historical reluctance to join a state program that reimburses some public defender expenses has been fueled at least in part by fears that the program does not fully work.

Fifty-seven of Indiana's 92 counties have signed up for reimbursement from the Indiana Public Defender Commission, according to the commission's Web site.

For related stories, see this Jan. 6, 2007 ILB entry headed "Porter's public defenders overwhelmed", and three ILB entires, ending with this one from March 9, 2006, titled "Failure to submit paperwork to Indiana Public Defender Commission costly to many counties, including Marion."

Here is the website of the Indiana Public Defender Commission, which includes links to more information on excessive caseloads.

[Updated] The AP has a story today that begins:

Lake County's chief public defender thinks a state program that reimburses some public defender expenses should be done statewide.

Vanderburgh County's chief public defender Stephen Owens does not share that view. He says he doesn't believe other counties should be allowed to join until the Indiana Public Defender Commission can keep its financial commitment its current members.

"The more counties come in and the more fingers in the pie, the less money to pass around," Owens told the South Bend Tribune for a Monday story.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 4, 2007 03:20 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts