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The Shortfalls of Utah's Indigent Defense System
Even though the US Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to a fair trial and legal representation, these important rights are not being upheld for everyone.
May 21, 2010 /Money PR News/ -- The Right to Counsel
Under the Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution, every defendant charged with a crime is guaranteed the right to effective assistance of legal counsel. This means that not only is every defendant entitled to a lawyer to defend him or her, but the lawyer must be competent to provide that representation as well.
In cases where defendants are unable to afford to pay for their own legal representation - when they have been found by the court to be "indigent" - then the state is required to provide an attorney to them at no cost. In other words, the state must pick up the tab for the attorney.
Even though the US Supreme Court ruled in Gideon v. Wainwright that defendants facing state criminal charges also have the right to an attorney, the Court was silent on how states should provide for this right. As a result, it has been left up to the states to create their own indigent defense systems and provide the necessary funding for them.
Utah's Indigent Defense System
Currently, Utah is ranked as having one of the worst indigent defense systems in the country. The state spends less than half per defendant than the average spent by other states.
One of the biggest problems with Utah's system is that the state provides no funding for indigent defense. Utah and Pennsylvania share the dubious honor of being the only states in the country not to provide at least some state funding for indigent defense. Instead, Utah law delegates this important task to the counties, which then must come up with the funding to pay for legal representation for those who cannot afford it.
As a result, Utah has a patchwork system of providing indigent defense, which varies greatly from county to county. Most of the state's 29 counties assign private attorneys to the cases and pay them on an hourly basis or have contracts with private attorneys that stipulate a flat fee for their services.
Utah's most populous counties - Salt Lake County, Utah County and Weber County - have exclusive contracts with public defender organizations to handle all of their indigent claims.
Defendants Forced to Use Contract Attorneys
While indigent defendants still may choose to hire a private criminal defense attorney rather than use a public defender to handle their cases, that attorney will have a very difficult time receiving any reimbursement from the county to cover necessary litigation expenses, including the costs to pay for expert witnesses, investigation and discovery.
Even though many private defense attorneys are willing to waive their fees and handle the representation pro bono, the truth of the matter is that it can be very expensive to put on an adequate defense against criminal charges. For many attorneys, they simply do not have the financial resources to pay for all of the necessary litigation expenses out-of-pocket with no opportunity for some reimbursement from the county.
This in turn means that fewer private defense attorneys are capable of taking on indigent clients, who then are left with no choice but to use a public defender or other appointed attorney.
As with other public defender programs in the country, Utah's is woefully underfunded and the attorneys are pushed to handle sometimes twice the recommended caseload. Under the American Bar Association's guidelines, it is recommended that public defenders take on no more than 150 cases per year. But in Utah, some public defenders have reported taking more than 250 felony cases each year. With such a high case load, these lawyers do not have the time or the resources to provide indigent clients with the level of legal representation that they deserve.
Conclusion
The whole purpose of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel is to help even the playing field between defendants and the government and to help ensure that defendants' rights to a fair trial are carried out. When it comes to indigent defense, however, the playing field is still far from even.
Offering reasonable litigation expense reimbursement to private criminal defense lawyers willing to take indigent defendant cases would help. The exclusive representation contracts between the LDA and Salt Lake, Utah and Weber Counties are unfair to defendants and do little to ensure that they are afforded their constitutional rights to effective assistance of counsel and a fair trial.
The state should also stop delegating the task of funding indigent defense solely to the counties. A state-run system would result in more even funding across counties and hopefully, a more equitable system for defendants.
Article provided by Access Legal
Visit us at www.utahaccesslegal.com
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