A Public Defender's Perspective

No More Budget Cuts for US!!!

2008-12-03T08:41:00.000-08:00

Nationwide we are in a budget crisis. From Vermont to Alaska and down to Texas, everyone is feeling the crunch. What's wholly unfair, is that we, who exist only as a necessary evil, are feeling it far worse than ANY other agency.
Not to mention what that has done for our office morale. No longer do you hear many volunteers piping up to cover someone else's work at our Monday meeting. Everyone is too busy worrying about how they're going to keep up with their own caseload. More experienced attorneys sitting with the less experienced for their first few trials is happening less and less often. God forbid; that would just be wasteful. What's wrong with that picture?

What's wrong is that nobody likes us. We only exist because the Supreme Court says we have to. We exist for no other reason. Once you are labeled as a "defendant", "suspect", or "criminal", nobody likes you anymore. They don't care if your rights are protected. The ends justify the means. Just like the Salem Witch Trials: if they float, they must be a witch, so they must be killed. Nevermind there is no real evidence of practicing witchcraft... And nobody wants to funnel more money into a broken system. It's broken because we have overqualified, underpaid attorneys working their a@@es off to try to preserve some sense of dignity and justice for defendants charged in criminal court. We are always doing more with less, more with less. To top that off; the new attorneys coming in, are often making more than the experienced attorneys that have dedicated years of their lives for this job. Yea!! NO LIE!! And there is no system for raises. We sit around and hope we get a cost of living increase, and maybe by some miracle a raise. But when Bob Smith (the brand new guy) gets a raise guess what? He still makes more than me. People who have dedicated their lives to working here are being increasingly forced to move on to greener pastures, where they work the same and make more money. Not just here, everywhere. When will someone step up and propose funding for Public Interest Law? Or at least Student loan repayment.

Am I pissed off? Yes. I am pissed off because while we are trying to work miracles with nothing, the University of Kansas is paying BIll Self and Mark Mangino millions of dollars to get fat and eat doughnuts. K-State is paying Schneider millions to come back from the dead... I mean retirement, to coach again. He was spotted just this week flying in the UNIVERSITY JET!! Not to mention the buyout of Ron Prince, millions. Down the tube. AND WE'RE THE WASTEFUL AGENCY?? We print on both sides of paper; we turn off the lights. We freeze in the winter and burn up in the summer to keep out lease terms agreeable. We get hand me down furniture, and many buy their own office supplies. While the governor throws parties at the mansion. WHERE DOES IT END? When does someone become accountable? How many qualified and experienced attorneys do we have to lose before someone gives us some credit?

That's all I'm saying.

NOTE: This is an edited post. After some discussion with some very smart and insightful attorneys, I decided it would be best to remove some parts of the post and just vent about the political system and budget in general. Thanks guys for your input!!

Representation Never Stops

2008-11-19T13:15:00.000-08:00

Day after day new cases are assigned to the attorneys on my office. That's how it's supposed to be right? Well, yes, but no. Kind of? The reality of the situation is that as more cases get charged, more cases get assigned, and more work is to be done. The problem is that we are always doing more with less, and the legislature or appropriations committee that balances the budget is always trying to yank the worn out mat we stand on from under our feet. It's like they don't really see the big picture.

So what is the big picture? Well, it's something like this: OUR REPRESENTATION DOESN'T END WITH THE CLOSING OF A FILE IN OUR OFFICE!! Now, don't get me wrong; I do this job because this is really where my heart is. I am passionate about representing my clients, whatever their alleged crime may be. Lord knows nobody here does it for the money. So why all this wining? Well, because as new cases get assigned everyday, new crises for former clients arise. It's like a neverending vicious circle. Most are fairly simple issues like jail credit, or imposing post release supervision when there should be no post release. But some of them, frankly, are quite complicated, requiring hours of research.

So, the ABA reccommends not having lots and lots of cases, in order to be ethical. They recognize that the more cases you have, the less time you can devote to each client, thus the less effective your representation is. Seems logical right? SO THEN WHY DOES THE KANSAS LEGISLATURE NOT GET IT!!! Though our caseloads may show 60 on paper (the average here by the way), we are really carrying a caseload of 70+ on average (counting all the things you have to do for former clients). Oh, as an aside: 60 is way more than what is recommended by the ABA in order to be ethical. And whose license is on the line? OURS!!

We lose qualified attorneys every year because of the financial and stress aspects of this job. It is highly stressful, dealing with populations that are sometimes difficult to manage. And, the pay just isn't enough. It is not at all competitive with a first year associate position at a firm, and yet people's lives are LITERALLY in our hands. We lose people to the district attorney's office (They pay more), and to airfraft positions (they pay way more), and to other firms (they also pay way more). When will people realize, that just because someone is charged with a crime it doesn't mean they are the scum of the earth!! Wake up and smell the roses. What if it was someone in your family, your parent for example. (Anyway, that's a whole other blog for a whole other day...)

Anyway, I feel a bit better now that I have ranted and raved for a while. I am sure some of you that may come across this blog will agree, and maybe even empathize with me over this issue. I am going to try to blog a little everyday. Maybe then I will be less stressed when I leave the office, and maybe you guys will get an insight into the life of a public defender.

We are NOT Public Pretenders

2008-11-18T09:33:00.000-08:00

I know this issue has probably been presented before, probably hundreds of times; but I can't tell you how sick I am of people calling us Public Pretenders. In reality, we are often more experienced, dedicated ,and diverse than private counsel (sorry guys. Don't take it personal).

I can't tell you how many times during the docket a private attorney has leaned over and asked me what to do next; or how many times they have called me and asked me what to charge, or how the process works, or what I think they should do. I mean, come on. Give me a break.

As for clients, they should be thankful they have a public defender. I mean, first of all, they probably couldn't afford to pay a private attorney (DUH!), and secondly, we deal only with criminal law. We are not sidetracked with divorces, civil filing dealines, and pre trial conferences. We do not dabble in the area of criminal law. We are dedicated foot solidiers to the pursuit of justice. We only practice in criminal law. We familiarize ourselves with the ever changing seas of law, and the special sentencing and bond rules that come attached to it.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of private attorneys that are good, really good. But I am sick and tired of getting a bad rap. I work my @## off to provide each client I serve with quality representation. I do the best I can with what I have. I make it work. And, remember, we're attorneys, not magicians.