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Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Ind. Gov't. - More on: Failure to submit paperwork to Indiana Public Defender Commission costly to many counties, including Marion

Updating this ILB entry from Feb. 12th, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports today, in a story by Rebecca S. Green headlined "Wells looking to soften legal costs":

BLUFFTON – Wells County officials met Monday to discuss whether the county should pursue reimbursement from the Indiana Public Defender Council that could repay some of the money spent providing legal counsel to those who cannot afford it.

The county commissioners discussed the issue after a story appeared in The Journal Gazette in February that revealed Wells County had not been receiving money from the public defender council, though it was eligible.

Also present at the meeting were County Attorney Trent Patterson, Auditor Mary Wells, County Council President Pete Cole, Circuit Court Judge David Hanselman, Superior Court Judge Everett Goshorn, and attorney Andy Antrim – who handles much of the county’s public defender work.

According to Patterson, Wells County had been contacted in 2001 about participating in the Public Defender Council’s program, which reimburses counties for up to 40 percent of their public defender costs provided the county agreed to certain requirements such as caseload limits for public defenders.

The idea, Patterson said, was to keep small counties from being bankrupted by cases involving the death penalty, which could cost upwards of $1 million to defend.

Superior Judge Goshorn expressed concern about the program’s caseload limits, which could pose a problem for Wells County because it has only about three attorneys to handle public defender work. Antrim agreed, adding he handled about 150 to 200 public defender cases, both felonies and misdemeanors, in 2005.

Commissioner Randal Plummer said the program could end up costing more money than it pays back, with the possibility of additional staff required to monitor caseloads or other expenses.

At the end of the 30-minute meeting, the commissioners asked Patterson to gather additional information and contact the Indiana Public Defender Council about what it would take for the county to be compliant with the program’s requirements.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 7, 2006 07:40 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts | Indiana Government