Public Defender Commission announces legislative priorities

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The Indiana Public Defender Commission has announced plans to begin a legislative effort intended to stir statewide public defense reform, a decision that comes on the heels of a task force report that highlighted shortcomings in the Hoosier indigent defense system.

The commission announced Tuesday it will lobby for legislative reforms that underscore the state’s responsibility to provide defense services to indigent defendants. Indiana operates under a county-based public defense system, but a recent report from the Indiana Task Force on Public Defense called for greater state support of that system.

“The liberty rights of Indiana’s citizens must be properly safeguarded by the state,” commission chair Mark Rutherford said in a statement. “Our state and national constitutions and basic principles of fairness require more resources and support for lawyers acting as freedom fighters for Hoosiers.”

Specifically, the commission announced plans to advocate for four issues during the 2019 session of the General Assembly:

• State reimbursement for all case types, including misdemeanors;

• Creation of a statewide appellate office;

• Permission to create regional county public defender offices, and;

• Reforms to county public defender boards aimed at creating more public defender independence.

These issues emerged as priorities in the task force report released in late August. The 13-member task force compiled its report after spending a year researching public defense in Indiana and other states, with the goal of identifying ways to improve the Hoosier system. The task force was formed after the Sixth Amendment Center released a report in 2016 that was highly critical of Indiana’s public defense system.

The overarching goal of the commission’s reform efforts is to encourage greater participation in its voluntary reimbursement program. Right now, 62 of Indiana’s 92 counties participate in the program, which provides reimbursement to counties for felony indigent defense as long as those counties comply with quality standards.

But the task force found that even among those 62 counties, public defender offices are “plagued by overworked attorneys, a lack of uniform accountability, and inadequate resources to protect the constitutional rights of Hoosiers accused of crimes.”

“Public defense is a matter of right, not charity or enlightened benevolence,” retired 7th Circuit Court of Appeals judge and task force chair John Tinder said in a statement. “The right to counsel gives meaning and substance to all of the other rights that are central to our constitutions.”

In addition to this year’s legislative priorities, the task force report identifies additional public defense shortcomings that should be addressed at the state, county and commission level. Larry Landis, former executive director of the commission and a member of the task force, told Indiana Lawyer earlier this month that it will take several years to fully complete public defense reform in Indiana.

The full report from the task force can be read here.

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