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Monday, November 23, 2009
Ind. Law - "Vanderburgh County Public Defenders caseload climbing"
Lydia X. McCoy reports today in the Evansville Courier & Press:
The Vanderburgh County Public Defenders Agency — which provides legal counsel for indigent criminal defendants — is on pace to have a record caseload this year.As of September, 2,053 felony cases have been filed in Vanderburgh County's Superior and Circuit courts, according to numbers from the agency. Public defenders were appointed in 1,375 of those, almost 67 percent.
"The prior (record) year we had 1,722 and that was in 2007. It went down a little in 2008, and it appears to have rebounded in 2009," Chief Public Defender Steve Owens said. * * *
The agency of five full-time and 21 part-time attorneys serves clients in all areas of Vanderburgh County courts where a person is legally entitled to an attorney. Those attorneys represent clients in a number of areas, including felonies, juvenile delinquencies and misdemeanors.
A public defender is appointed when a defendant is determined to not have any funds to pay for an attorney.
Owens said some of the reasons for the higher caseload could include the economic downturn or legislative changes that have stiffened penalties for certain crimes, including ones related to domestic violence.
Owens said the agency also is reaching its limit with the number of cases its four part-time juvenile court attorneys can handle.
"Since (the state) has changed the mechanics of dealing with cases, there's been a significant increase of child in need of services and termination cases," he said. "There is only one county where the chief public defender said we're going to quit taking cases, and that was Marion County and in juvenile, that's the same thing we're having right now."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 23, 2009 09:36 AM
Posted to Indiana Law