Las Vegas NowStandards on Public Defenders Upcoming
The Nevada Supreme Court plans a decision by mid-October on standards to ensure that indigents charged with crimes get adequate legal counsel.
The plan for a decision on or before Oct. 15 followed a high court hearing Friday that continued discussions of its January mandate for proper legal counsel for indigents.
While a ruling on proper standards is expected, it won't deal with caseloads that public defenders should carry. Supreme Court spokesman Bill Gang said caseload studies in Washoe and Clark counties, Nevada's largest, won't be done until next May.
The court's January mandate was supposed to take effect in April but was delayed until mid-July -- only to be delayed again pending a review of the impact on rural areas of the state.
The order for adequate counsel is in line with a long-standing U.S. Supreme Court requirement. Delays were sought because of the high cost of implementing the order -- but justices also have been told that not complying with the requirement opens the state and its counties to possible lawsuits.
The state Supreme Court's January order noted that the average caseload for a public defender is 364 felony and gross misdemeanor cases in the Las Vegas area and 327 cases in the Reno area. The standard recommended by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association is 150 cases.
Changes in legal standards being considered by the Supreme Court have been sought by a special commission that spent most of 2007 studying ways to improve services to indigents.
The commission had recommended that indigent defendants in all counties except Clark, Washoe and Elko be represented by the state public defender's office. The commission also had recommended that the state office be funded entirely by the state. Currently, county governments fund 80 percent of the cost for defense services they get from the office.
Gang said the 2009 Legislature may get a proposal to have the state take over much and possibly all indigent defense in Nevada.
The plan is expected to be pushed by the Nevada Association of Counties.
The indigent defense commission, made up of jurists, court administrators and equal-justice advocates, was formed following a Las Vegas Review-Journal series that detailed problems with Clark County's public defender system.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
