Trumbull commissioners increase hourly rate for defense attorneys

Staff report

WARREN

The Trumbull County commissioners on Wednesday increased the amount court-appointed attorneys will earn representing low-income criminal defendants to $75 per hour. The previous rate was $50 per hour for in-court services and $40 per hour for out-of-court services.

The new rate puts Trumbull County higher than Mahoning County’s rate, which is $60 per hour in court and $50 out of court, but Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa said the effect on Trumbull County’s finances will be minimized by the state reimbursing an increasing percentage of the county’s cost in the state’s next two-year budget.

The commissioners acted on the increase after Andrew Logan, administrative judge of common pleas court, signed a July 8 order regarding the rates.

The order says the judge “hereby adopts” a rate of $75 per hour subject to maximum dollar limits for various types of cases. For example, an aggravated-murder case can be paid at up to $25,000; murder, $10,000; felonies of the first or second degree, $8,000; third degree, $5,000; fourth or fifth degree, $3,500.

Judge Logan was not available to comment, but Judge Ronald Rice said the former payment rate was “a joke.”

Defense attorney Jeff Goodman said defense attorneys appreciate the increase, but it still leaves a gap between the amount paid to defense attorneys for low-income clients and the attorneys in the prosecutor’s office.