Judge: Number of Prisoners Without Adequate Representation or Any Representation Growing


    April 18, 2007
    The Times Picayune
    By Mary Foster, The Associated Press

    NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In the three weeks since Judge Arthur Hunter last said he was prepared to release from jail criminal suspects who are not being adequately represented by the city's indigent defender's office, the problem has only grown worse.

    "I'm up to an additional 40 people since March 26 who don't have lawyers period," Hunter said Tuesday. "It's not inadequate representation in these cases, it's no representation."

    Hunter ordered 42 people freed last month but delayed implementation of the order until a hearing, scheduled on Wednesday, during which he will hear arguments.

    About half of the 82 defendants are already out on bail, Hunter said. If the others are released, charges would not be dropped, Hunter said.

    The defendants are charged with crimes ranging from possession of marijuana to aggravated rape, the judge said.

    The Orleans Parish District Attorney's office has said it would likely appeal any ruling by Hunter that the defendants be released. "We will oppose such an action in the interest of public safety," said Dalton Savoir, spokesman for the office.

    Hunter has been battling what he sees as the Office of Indigent Defenders' inability to adequately represent the city's hundreds of poor defendants since Hurricane Katrina wrecked the criminal justice system.

    Before the hurricane hit, three-quarters of the defenders' office's budget was financed by traffic court fines. That revenue dried up after Katrina devastated New Orleans in August 2005. A justice department study said the office needs between $7 million and $10 million a year to operate.

    In October 2006, Hunter ordered the release of four inmates from a city jail and postponed their trials, saying their constitutional right to adequate legal counsel was being violated. A state appeals court, however, sent the cases back to Hunter for additional review.

    During an earlier hearing in Hunter's courtroom, Stephen Singer, lead trial counsel for the public defenders' office said 12 public defenders were handling at least 1,371 cases in Orleans Parish's criminal district court as of Nov. 9, 2006, an average of 114 cases per lawyer. The single public defender assigned to Hunter's court was handling 164 cases.

    Singer, however, said that "snapshot" of his office's caseload is likely underestimated by thousands of cases.

    Hunter delayed his release order last month so he could get more information from the District Attorney's Office, the state bar association and the indigent defenders.



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