Contract indigent defense system saving money

The cost of justice in Houston County remains affordable for the underprivileged who face criminal charges after county officials revamped the legal defense system nearly five years ago.

Anyone charged with a crime has a right to an attorney to defend them in court. If the criminally charged can not afford a lawyer, they can be declared indigent, and the court will appoint them a lawyer.

Costs for that defense skyrocketed in Houston County under the old system, which was partially overhauled in 2004.

The county changed its indigent defense system from court appointed lawyers for specific cases to awarding attorneys contracts to work indigent cases for specific judges. In each of the the last three years the new system saved nearly $1 million compared to the previous system, which paid the lawyer an hourly rate.

“The contract system works extremely well,” said Circuit Court Judge Lawson Little, the circuit’s presiding judge. “We’ve saved the tax payers a lot of money in my opinion.”

In the last two years of the appointed system indigent defense fees accumulated to more than $2.2 and $2.3 million for 2003 and 2004. In 2004, about $800,000 of the costs came from the Fair Trial Tax Fund, which comes from the court costs and fines charged to the defendant. The remaining $1.5 million was picked up by the Alabama general fund, according to the state Comptroller’s Office. In 2007, indigent defense only added up to about $1.5 million, which included about $800,000 from the general fund, a large decrease from the old system.

But dipping into the state’s general fund isn’t unusual. David Sawyer, an attorney with the state Administrative Office of Courts (AOC) said some state officials have previously submitted legislation to form a state-wide indigent defense commission.

Sawyer said judicial districts across the state use a three-prong system for indigent defense from appointed counsel, to contract systems to a separate public defender’s office. He said 11 counties across the state primarily use the contract system, while at least three judicial districts use a public defender’s office.

Contract vs Appointed

Overall, Houston County has 18 lawyers under contract. Circuit judges have two lawyers under contract to handle all indigent cases and they are paid $66,000 annually. District judges have one contract lawyer and are paid $40,000 annually. Eight lawyers do contract work for juvenile cases and are paid $30,000 annually.

Little said a five-member county indigent defense commission chose the contract lawyers after taking recommendations from each judge. Former presiding circuit court judge Larry Anderson made the original appointments to the commission.Any changes to the commission would be determined by the current presiding circuit court judge.

Most of the county’s indigent defense services are handled on a contract basis, unless there is conflict of interest in a case or it’s a capital murder case. In those cases the court will appoint lawyers to serve as counsel, and in a capital case the defendant gets two lawyers.

While contract lawyers earn a flat monthly rate, an appointed lawyer earns an hourly rate of $60 while in court and $40 for defense outside the courtroom. An appointed lawyer is also allowed $25 an hour for overhead and office costs. Henry County, which is inside the same circuit as Houston County, uses the appointed counsel system.

Little said the contract system has helped move cases more quickly. He called the county’s criminal case load “pretty manageable,” especially with a new circuit judge starting in January 2009.

He said it would likely cost twice as much to start and run a public defender’s office for Houston County.

Eric Davis, who has served as a contract lawyer for Anderson since it started in 2004, agreed with Little.
“It’s kind of hard to compare county to county because everybody does it differently,” said Davis, who also previously served as an assistant district attorney. “If we had a public defender’s office it would have to be funded like the DA’s Office.”

Davis said the cost to the defendant would likely increase six to 10 times if they attempted to retain counsel.

“By having a contract I don’t feel pressured to take every case that walks in the door,” Davis said. “I think it works well in Houston County. I’m not sure one system is going to fit every one (judicial circuit).“
Tom Brantley, a Dothan criminal defense lawyer, said indigent defendants get their money’s worth. Brantley said a county public defender’s office would need an office at the courthouse and regular full-time employees that require a salary.

“I really think the contract system is the most cost effective for the tax payers,” Brantley said. “The contract system is the best system available. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best.”

Daniel Johnson, chairman of the Houston County Bar Association, said the indigent defense system in Houston County improved since it switched to the contract system.

“The same lawyers handling the same type of cases day in and day out are going to get more experience,” Johnson said.“An accused person here in Houston County can rest assured their lawyer will likely have handled a similar type case previously.”

Payment plan

A defendant declared indigent automatically has to repay the cost of their defense, and Little said that cost varies on the type of conviction. He said a defendant convicted of a class A felony such as murder or armed robbery would be ordered to pay $1,000, for a class B felony the bill would come to $750 and a class C felony such as third-degree burglary would cost $500.

The court periodically holds show cause hearings in an effort to collect overdo fines and court costs from convicted defendants already released from prison or on probation.

“We try to recoup as much of the costs as we can,” Little said. “The reality of it is if they go to prison for a long period of time we’re not going to get the money. If we can get the basic court costs then we’ve done pretty good in my opinion.”

Public Defender’s Office

At least three other counties have a public defender’s office, including Tuscaloosa, Shelby and Escambia. But Escambia’s office serves on a part-time basis. Sawyer said Shelby county uses all three methods to provide services for indigent defense.

The Tuscaloosa County Public Defender Robert Woolridge said the lawyers within a public defender’s office only work indigent defense cases without distraction from other cases. He said his office with 11 lawyers handles about 75 percent of the indigent defense load for the county.

“I think the public defender’s system is the model throughout the country for indigent defense. Unfortunately Alabama doesn’t follow the model,” Woolridge said. “It provides a level of expertise, and a level of efficiency.”
The rest of the country doesn’t use the public defender’s office system, but neighboring Florida does. Florida’s system is vastly different to Alabama indigent defense system because Florida also elects a public defender along with a district attorney for each judicial district.

Public Defender Herman Laramore, who’s jurisdiction stretches across seven Florida counties including Jackson County, called Florida’s system one of the most progressive in the country.

“My lawyers become experts in criminal law because that’s all they do is criminal law,” said Laramore, who has more than 20 regular lawyers. “They’re in the court room everyday.”