Wait list grows as public defenders refuse cases in New Orleans
- By Mori Rothman | PBS News
- May 3, 2016
- 1 min read
There are not enough public defenders in New Orleans to represent the 85 percent of cases where a client can’t afford legal counsel — so the public defenders made a wait list.
The wait list has grown to 142 cases since the public defenders began refusing serious felony cases in January.
“I came here to represent poor folks who are charged with crimes, to give them adequate, stellar, quality representation,” public defender William Snowden said. “Nobody in my office is able to do that when people get put on a wait list because we simply don’t have the funds.”
Chief Public Defender Derwyn Bunton says the Orleans Public Defenders budget has been cut from 9 million dollars to 6 million in the past six years, forcing him to enact hiring freezes.
Meanwhile, nearly half of Bunton’s investigators and attorneys have left, and the team has no money to hire replacements. Buton blames the attrition on the low pay and long hours required of the job.
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