A pro se defendant in Illinois recently asked for a court-appointed “assistant” to take notes for him during his trial:
“I want an assistant to keep notes and keep track of things during trial testimony. I’m not able to keep track of everything that’s said by everybody during testimony,” said Pinkston.
I know exactly how you feel, Mr. Pinkston! Can I get an assistant like that, too, please?
Today we celebrate the Declaration of Independence and the freedoms it eventually led to. As public defenders, we know how precious and fragile those freedoms are. So here’s to independence, here’s to freedom, and here’s to the brave and dedicated people who work tirelessly everyday to defend the public from excessive and unconstitutional uses of force by the government. In other words, here’s to Public Defenders! Let freedom ring!
Missoula has just become the second Montana city (Billings being the first) to start using GPS shackles to ” track accused – or convicted – offenders.” Apparently, Missoula’s system is going to be an “active” or real-time tracking system, while the system used by Alternatives, Inc., in Billings is “passive,” meaning it only uploads data to officials when the shackled person plugs the unit into a base station at home. The Municipal Court is the only court that really ever orders the shackle in Billings (knock wood).
While it’s true that these shackles may be a way to reduce jail overcrowding, there are often better, cheaper, more just solutions to that problem. As the article notes:
the solution to the Missoula County jail’s overcrowding problems is not as simple as strapping a tracking device to an offender’s ankle. Part of the solution includes encouraging law enforcement to cite and release more offenders, providing those who are jailed with more opportunities to post bail, and increasing the limited number of offenders who qualify for supervision within the community.
Kudos to Chelsi Moy and The Missoulian for pointing that out. The legislature could also help out by revising some misdemeanor statutes to remove jail time from the list of possible penalties—replace it with community service, fines, or other penalties. (This would also have the effect of reducing public defender caseloads, thus saving taxpayers money on multiple fronts.)
Two things the article does not make clear are: 1) who is paying for this “service”? and 2) How many people are being ordered to wear these shackles before trial? In Billings, if you’re one of the lucky 20-30 people wearing a shackle at any one time, you may have the pleasure of paying $150/month as a base cost for the privilege, plus you’ll definitely pay $15/day for every day you’re ordered to wear the thing. Payment due a week at a time, one week in advance, please. Oh, and if you don’t pay, the Municipal Court will gladly cooperate with the request from Alternatives, Inc., to throw you in jail. Nevermind that it’s illegal for you to go to jail just for being poor. Yeah, forget about that.
The other thing that happens in Billings is that the Municipal Court frequently orders innocent people to wear these shackles while they are awaiting trial. So, in addition to paying a bond to get out of jail (because almost no one a too few of those arrested in Billings gets a Notice to Appear — everyone goes a large number go to jail first and must pay bond; release on a person’s own recognizance is exceedingly far too rare), if you’re accused of a misdemeanor in Billings you might also have to pay $450-600/month for the privilege of being in the community while you await your trial. And that’s not to mention the indignity of having your every move tracked by satellite. So much for the presumption of innocence!
Here’s hoping Missoula doesn’t adopt these abhorrent practices as it begins using its own version of these shackles.
Ed. Note: This post edited as shown above to reduce hyperbole.
The Missoulian reports that Sam Lemaich, regional head of the Department of Corrections (DOC) probation and parole for the Missoula region, will be retiring soon.
It sounds like Missoulian writer Michael Moore has a crush on Lemaich.
[tags]probation, DOC, missoula[/tags]
Michael Richardson, 30, an intern with the D.C. Public Defender Service … was fatally shot Friday at the Steak & Egg Breakfast restaurant on Ninth Street NW. How sad! ⇒
According to this story from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, state laws there cap the caseload of public defenders at 184.5 felonies and 492 misdemeanors per year. It’s not clear whether that means each defender is expected to close almost 600 cases each year, or whether each attorney is expected to do one or the other (the felonies or the misdemeanors). Either way, those caseloads are higher than the loads recommended by the Public Defender Commission in Montana (PDF), which are:
Recommendations are one thing; real numbers are another. As that Wisconsin story indicates, defenders are regularly carrying much higher numbers of cases than the law allows there, and while the same seems to be true here, I haven’t heard of it being quite as bad as things sound in Fond du Lac.
In addition, it appears Wisconsin defenders are unhappy that outdated indigency criteria mean that too many people are denied access to lawyers. Here in Montana the problem seems to be the reverse — the law basically says that anyone can and should be appointed a public defender, regardless of means. After that initial appointment, the public defender’s office is supposed to conduct an indigency test and tell those who have too many resources that they need to find their own counsel. This means that public defenders can end up handling cases that they really shouldn’t be handling, which can deny resources and representation to those who really need it.
Apparently, things could be much worse, as this story from Tennessee makes clear:
During a recent day in Alcoa city court, Garner and his assistants plowed through 50 cases, devoting about 12 minutes to each. That kind of pace makes it hard to provide the quality of service that people deserve, he said.
“I try to do all my work by telephone because we simply don’t have an hour to spare to talk to a person about a case,” he said “I’m not sure all of our clients know what’s going on because everything happens so fast.”
Ouch.
If the jury knows you can’t stand your client either (a) you cannot represent him or (b) you should not be public defending any more. ⇒
image: detail of installation by Bronwyn Lace