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Florida institutes a “dangerous game of chance” in conflict representation
Pleading the Sixth: A new Florida statute allows judges to limit compensation for private attorneys handling conflict indigent defense cases. A June 2012 Florida Innocence Commission report says the...
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Are public defenders better than appointed counsel? DOJ says “yes”
Pleading the Sixth: A 2011 report by the United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics concludes that the public defender model provides better, more cost-efficient representation...
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New reports promote public defender model for Texas
Pleading the Sixth: Two new independent reports out of Texas conclude that the public defender model provides better, more cost-efficient representation than the assigned counsel model. In a companion...
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Understanding Gideon’s Impact on Right to Counsel Services, Part 1
In holding that the right to the assistance of counsel is a guarantee of our federal Constitution, in Gideon v. Wainwright, the Court made that right obligatory on state governments by virtue of the...
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The Lower Courts in the Post-Gideon Era
Every state crafts its own criminal codes, and each state does so differently from the next. An action that might be classified as a felony offense by the legislature in California, for example, might...
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Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services to run out of money in April 2013
Pleading the Sixth: The Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services (MCILS) is predicting that it will run out of money to pay assigned counsel attorneys shortly after the 50th Anniversary of Gideon v....
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How an otherwise model assigned counsel compensation plan contributes to...
Pleading the Sixth: When states make counties wholly responsible for the delivery of trial-level indigent defense services without state oversight of those services, bad things can and do happen. In...
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Wisconsin’s low attorney compensation rates create conflicts for the indigent...
Pleading the Sixth: Imagine holding the same job for 30 years without ever once receiving a raise. If that job required you to pay for many of the associated costs of doing business, inflation alone...
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Texas judges ask out of indigent defense oversight
Pleading the Sixth: In an effort to meet the American Bar Association’s Ten Principles, judges in Travis County, Texas (Austin) created a plan to remove themselves from the oversight and...
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DOJ recommendations for Shelby County, TN place financial burden on the...
Pleading the Sixth: For nearly five years, the U.S. Department of Justice has been trying to improve the representation of children in delinquency proceedings in Shelby County (Memphis), Tennessee. As...
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Tennessee Supreme Court Task Force recommends complete overhaul of right to...
Pleading the Sixth: Recognizing that the State of Tennessee needs a better way of providing right to counsel services, in September 2015 former Chief Justice Sharon Lee created an Indigent...
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Flaws in West Virginia indigent defense system result in non-lawyer...
Pleading the Sixth: In Logan County, West Virginia, a recent law school graduate who never passed the bar exam was allowed to represent the indigent accused in misdemeanor court. This is an obvious...
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Will the Virgin Islands finally end the practice of conscripting...
Pleading the Sixth: Although the Virgin Islands has a territorial public defender office, trial court administrative rules historically authorized judges to conscript any attorney barred in the...
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Tennessee Supreme Court backs major right to counsel reforms
Pleading the Sixth: The Tennessee Supreme Court released a press statement announcing its unanimous support for comprehensive indigent defense reforms, including the creation of a statewide indigent...
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Wisconsin Supreme Court increases compensation to some, but not all, indigent...
Pleading the Sixth: On June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin ordered the compensation paid by counties to assigned counsel appointed by the courts raised from $70/hour to $100/hour beginning in...
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Federal committee recommends independence of the defense function
Pleading the Sixth: Kept under wraps since being issued in November 2017, the report of the committee appointed by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts to study the provision of the Sixth Amendment...
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Oregon’s complex bureaucracy obscures just another fixed fee system
Pleading the Sixth: Oregon stands as a cautionary tale regarding indigent defense reform. Often extolled (including by this author) as a working model that provides effective public defense services...
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A lack of effectiveness and financial oversight define Maine’s right to...
Pleading the Sixth: Maine is the only state in the country that provides all indigent defense services through private attorneys. There are two principal reasons that other states have moved away from...
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Wisconsin’s low attorney compensation rates create conflicts for the indigent...
Pleading the Sixth: Imagine holding the same job for 30 years without ever once receiving a raise. If that job required you to pay for many of the associated costs of doing business, inflation alone...
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DOJ recommendations for Shelby County, TN place financial burden on the...
Pleading the Sixth: For nearly five years, the U.S. Department of Justice has been trying to improve the representation of children in delinquency proceedings in Shelby County (Memphis), Tennessee. As...
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