Plan calls for shifting funds for defense of poor Ohioans

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

An Ohio working group considering changes in how defense lawyers are provided for the poor has drafted a proposal that would shift the financial responsibility from counties to the state over a five-year period.

Proponents say it could save money for local governments and make the justice system fairer, The Columbus Dispatch reported Sunday.

“When you have the state of Ohio law being enforced and defended in 88 different ways ... you end up with huge disparities in cost, quality and efficiency,” state Public Defender Tim Young said.

Counties still could choose how they provide representation for indigent people, such as using a county public defender’s office, court-appointed lawyers, contracts with the state or a combination of those models. But the proposal would have the state public defender’s office oversee the system through regional offices.

“Largely, it still leaves the choice of the system to each county in how they choose to provide counsel, but the state would be writing the whole check,” Young said.

He said about 70 percent of criminal cases that could result jail time involve poor defendants.

The plan has not yet been given to the Legislature. It was put together by a working group that includes representatives from several state offices, the County Commissioners’ Association of Ohio, the Ohio State Bar Association and the Ohio Judicial Conference.

The group has been meeting for several years to consider possible changes to an indigent defense system set up in the 1970s.

Under that system, counties arrange and pay for lawyers for poor defendants and are partially reimbursed by the state. Counties were reimbursed at a rate of about 35 percent last year by the state, which had promised a 50 percent rate when the system was created, the newspaper said.

Changing that system is a legislative priority for the commissioners’ association.

“This issue remains one of the top priorities of CCAO and goes well beyond funding concerns,” the association wrote in its policy document for the General Assembly this year. “The issue is about systemic reform and social justice.”

Not everyone in the working group is sold on the idea of an overhaul. Mark Schweikert, the Ohio Judicial Conference’ executive director, is an advocate of local control.

“At least at the local level, the local judiciary has some influence with the local funding authority and the local boards, and it can be managed in a way that’s best for that community,” he said.

The Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers supports changes aimed at improving defense for the poor and providing proper compensation for attorneys who do that work, said Tim Huey, the group’s president.

It’s possible the bill could face some opposition because attorneys who serve as court-appointed lawyers could lose that work if their counties switch to using public defenders’ offices.

Huey said there would be a need for both types of representation.

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Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com