STL Post Dispatch - Missouri's Head Public Defender Orders Governor to Take a Case

[Dan T.]

By Kristen Taketa St. Louis Post-Dispatch

 

Fed up with what he says is the governor’s failure to properly fund his overwhelmed office, the state’s lead public defender ordered Gov. Jay Nixon this week to represent a poor person in Cole County this month.

 

Michael Barrett said he was using a provision of state law that allows him in extraordinary circumstances to delegate legal representation “to any member of the state bar of Missouri.” He’s starting with the state’s highest-profile lawyer: Nixon.

 

Barrett says the governor has repeatedly declined to give the public defender system the money it requests and is withholding promised funding increases this year.

 

"As of yet, I have not utilized this provision because it is my sincere belief that is wrong to reassign an obligation placed on the state by the 6th and 14th Amendments to private attorneys who have in no way contributed to the current crisis,” Barrett said in a letter sent Nixon dated Tuesday. “However, given the extraordinary circumstances that compel me to entertain any and all avenues for relief, it strikes me that I should begin with the one attorney in the state who not only created the problem, but is in a unique position to address it.”

 

Last month, Barrett and the Missouri State Public Defender Commission filed a lawsuit claiming that Nixon withheld $3.5 million of the office's $4.5 million increase. Barrett claims Nixon is targeting the public defender system for budget cuts while leaving more money for other programs he likes.

 

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/state-and-regional/missouri-s-head-public-defender-assigns-case-to-gov-nixon/article_37809be0-b7ee-56b4-b478-bf8dfe01720f.html

 

 

I'll be interested to see how well the governor provides counsel to his indigent client.  Also, ballsy move by the public defender.

[Kilmer17]

LOL.  That's AWESOME!

[No Excuses]

The nations prison pipeline. Poor people who can't fight their cases due to overwhelmed public defenders and plea bargains sending them all straight to the prison, even if they may be innocent.

Good on him.

[Bang]

Something tells me to bet on the for-profit prison industry lobby being behind the withholding of funds.

 

Good for this attorney, but i doubt it will help. 

The American slave trade is too valuable to certain people.

 

~Bang

[PeterMP]

10 bucks says that law gets changed next legislative session.

[Gamebreaker]

10 bucks says that law gets changed next legislative session.

Yep. And the Public defenders office still won't get the promised funds.

[DogofWar1]

That is a pretty genius solution to a very serious problem. I'm surprised a legal mechanism to do that exists.

Start with the Governor, and move down to the legislative bodies if you need to. Everybody resists politically tough change...right up until it impacts you.

[Dan T.]

Here's Michael Barrett.

It's a profile shot because his balls are too big to fit onto a full body photo.

[TheGoodBits]

Frontrunner for my favorite story of the year.

[tshile]

I enjoy when someone actually does something that shows they care about a serious problem, or finds a way to stick it to those in power that obviously don't care. I can think of no more serious social issue in this country than what you see in the criminal justice system and how one's ability to be appropriately represented, not just in respect to guilt/innocence but also in terms of punishment, is directly and clearly related to where they fall on the wealth/poverty scale. it has created a nasty downward spiral for a large portion of our society that is impossible for them to escape once they get caught in it.

 

but as a few others have said, i doubt this will actually result in any real good. they'll change the law the next chance they get, the funds will never be at the appropriate level, this will be a temporary inconvenience to those responsible and a fun headline for a week, and that's likely about it.

[Dan T.]

 

but as a few others have said, i doubt this will actually result in any real good. they'll change the law the next chance they get, the funds will never be at the appropriate level, this will be a temporary inconvenience to those responsible and a fun headline for a week, and that's likely about it.

 

Perhaps.  But, if nothing else, this guy has managed to get the nation to focus on the issue of inadequate funding for public defense for 5 minutes.  

 

I don't know why Gov. Nixon withheld $3.5 million of the funding increase that was supposed to go to the public defender's office.  But I bet there are a lot of people in Missouri wondering why.  We'll see how resourceful Barrett is in making hay out of the spike in interest he's generated by this act. 

 

Edit: Of course this won't solve the core problem of how wealth - and lack of wealth - too often determine outcomes in the criminal justice system.

[tshile]

Perhaps.  But, if nothing else, this guy has managed to get the nation to focus on the issue of inadequate funding for public defense for 5 minutes.  

 

Yeah. I'm just so over the top cynical about anything requiring a serious solution, in some sort of timely manner, actually receiving one.

 

I may butt heads with people here on root causes and best solutions, but one thing I absolutely agree with many here on is that we have numerous problems, they're not being addressed/fixed in a way that reflects our theoretical ability (as a country) to do so (I'd argue not even close), and that it's very frustrating to see.

 

But yes, I do enjoy someone 'fighting the good fight' finding a way to stick it directly in someone's face like this.

[dfitzo53]

Perhaps. But, if nothing else, this guy has managed to get the nation to focus on the issue of inadequate funding for public defense for 5 minutes.

I don't know why Gov. Nixon withheld $3.5 million of the funding increase that was supposed to go to the public defender's office. But I bet there are a lot of people in Missouri wondering why. We'll see how resourceful Barrett is in making hay out of the spike in interest he's generated by this act.

Edit: Of course this won't solve the core problem of how wealth - and lack of wealth - too often determine outcomes in the criminal justice system.

It's crazy sometimes how easily this can apparently be done at the state/local level.

The Baltimore City School System failed their audit the last time they had one, which I believe was over 5 years ago. The solution? They simply haven't had themselves audited since. There is an ongoing legal battle to force them to provide funds for certain schools they have illegally withheld for years, and the BCPSS has employed every legal technicality and underhanded tactic they can think of to forestall any kind of actual judicial resolution.

I really do hope this brings enough attention to the issue in Missouri, but it takes more than one lawyer making a public spectacle (albeit an amusing and compelling one) to effect lasting change.

[Barney B]

Missouri's governor is a Democrat working with a senate and house that are both overwhelmingly Republican, so you might wonder if this is a case of Nixon being afraid of the "soft on crime" label, or if he's just sincerely a douchebag.

 

No need to wonder. Here's Barrett's letter to Nixon last summer:

 

http://publicdefenders.us/?q=node/862

 

 

When the legislature passed $3.47 million to help eliminate travel in conflict cases, you vetoed the funding.  When the legislature overrode your veto, you withheld the funds.  And then, in the subsequent budget, you reduced MSPD funding by the same $3.47 million that was appropriated the prior year...

 

 This disregard is emphasized by your administration’s recent efforts to improve the State Fairgrounds at a cost of $4 million, build the 88th state park at $52 million, to say nothing of a new football stadium estimated to cost in excess of $860 million...

 

...Since taking office, your administration has increased the Department of Corrections’ (DOC) budget by $55 million ($725 million in FY 2015), and that is on the heels of nearly $100 million additional dollars DOC received since 2004.  This growth has enabled Missouri to climb as high as 9th nationally in the rate at which it incarcerates its citizens, and at a cost in excess of $20,000 per year, per person, which equates to spending hundreds of millions to house addicted and non-violent individuals year after year.  

 

 

 

Douchebag.   

 

Considering that Barrett was hired by the Public Defender Commission, and that commission was appointed by the governor, this thread might just have plenty of life left in it.  

[tshile]

860 million for a football stadium, 725 million budget for DOC.

 

shafting the public defenders office.

 

our priorities, from top to bottom (government and the average citizen,) are just wrong.

[BornaSkinsFan83]

My experience with public defenders themselves, has been almost entirely positive. One's I've had always seemed to legitimately care. And if you ever want to get an understanding on just how ****ed the system is, talk to a public defender. They live it. They see it everyday. They can break down it down for you.

[Gamebreaker]

Is he the Governor of the state or secretly an employee of a private prison company? Because his actions are clearly showing an intention to benefit private prisons and no benefit to the state or it's citizens.

[@DCGoldPants]

Fantastic. I like the way this guy thinks.

[balki1867]

Is he the Governor of the state or secretly an employee of a private prison company? Because his actions are clearly showing an intention to benefit private prisons and no benefit to the state or it's citizens.

 

After what happened in PA we have to wonder.

[DogofWar1]

My experience with public defenders themselves, has been almost entirely positive. One's I've had always seemed to legitimately care. And if you ever want to get an understanding on just how ****ed the system is, talk to a public defender. They live it. They see it everyday. They can break down it down for you.

This is very true. Interned at a PD office between first two years of law school, true believers to a person. You have to be, anyone who isn't bails hard for greener pastures.

If I ever got charged with a crime, some of the PDs I met there are the first people I'd want, because they collect more experience in 2 years than private defense attorneys get in 10. They know their ****.

They also get shafted. Low budgets for them and a system that pushes people at them at a breakneck pace, it's rough.

And to top it off, many of the people they represent don't realize how experienced and capable they are, and oftentimes accused individuals will ask things like "are you a real lawyer," or say they're seeing if their family can get enough money to afford a "real lawyer."

You gotta be a special and impressive person to do that job, and I salute them.

[balki1867]

This is very true. Interned at a PD office between first two years of law school, true believers to a person. You have to be, anyone who isn't bails hard for greener pastures.

If I ever got charged with a crime, some of the PDs I met there are the first people I'd want, because they collect more experience in 2 years than private defense attorneys get in 10. They know their ****.

They also get shafted. Low budgets for them and a system that pushes people at them at a breakneck pace, it's rough.

And to top it off, many of the people they represent don't realize how experienced and capable they are, and oftentimes accused individuals will ask things like "are you a real lawyer," or say they're seeing if their family can get enough money to afford a "real lawyer."

You gotta be a special and impressive person to do that job, and I salute them.

 

I don't question the people who go into that line of work.  It's thankless, with terrible pay, so you'd have to be incredibly passionate to do it.

 

I *DO* question the resources and time they have to defend someone the way they deserve to be defended.  That's not at all their fault but its reality.

[Gamebreaker]

After what happened in PA we have to wonder.

I assume you mean that Judge. Forgot about that. Maybe this Governor needs to be investigated.