Saturday, January 19, 2019

Federal lawsuit filed against Wisconsin public defender system in northern counties

Peter Wasson of the Ashland Daily Press reports here, under the headline, "Ashland, Bayfield County residents file federal suit."  Here's the lede:
A group of defendants from Ashland and Bayfield counties say the state’s failure to provide adequate public defenders to represent them violates the constitutional rights of all indigent defendants. 
The five men and one woman are suing the state in federal court on behalf of all poor defendants in Wisconsin, claiming that their rights to competent defense attorneys and speedy trials have been violated because of systemic funding and staffing problems in the state Public Defender’s Office. 
Those violations harm not only the defendants but the entire region, the suit claims, through increased jail costs, lost work time and a sluggish court system that delays hearings for everyone.
The story quotes the lawsuit filings:
The system for indigent defense in Wisconsin has reached a state of crisis.  It is well-settled law that the state must promptly provide effective legal representation for indigent criminal defendants. However, in Wisconsin, these defendants are simply not being promptly appointed the effective legal counsel mandated by the United States and Wisconsin Constitutions.
The Wisconsin Public Defender's Office had this to say: 
The Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office (SPD) is aware of the federal court filing related to the nation’s lowest rate of compensation paid to assigned counsel attorneys who accept SPD cases.  We are currently reviewing the filing in detail, and will withhold further comment until that process is complete.
The rate of compensation for criminal defense lawyers in these counties is apparently $40/hour.

My prior work on rural indigent defense and its funding is here.   Ashland and Bayfield counties, populations 16,157 and 15,008, respectively, are on Lake Superior, not far from Superior, Wisconsin and Duluth, Minnesota. 

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