Defendant Just Not Indigent Enough

November 18, 2007
Times-Picayune (LA)
Editorial By James Gill


A few criminal court judges give the strong impression that they wouldn't mind sending Steve Singer to jail, but none more so than Frank Marullo, who will get the chance tomorrow.

Singer, chief of trials for the Indigent Defender Board, faces up to six months for contempt of court.

Singer has made quite a splash at Tulane and Broad. The Indigent Defender Board, which floundered along in the baleful grip of the judges before Katrina, has been transformed into a highly competent and independent operation since he took over last year.

These days indigent defenders conduct investigations, put witnesses on the stand and marshal vigorous arguments. Courthouse veterans think it a great novelty.

This is not a boon for everyone. The private bar will find demand for its services reduced if effective counsel is available for free. In the old days poor defendants knew they had a much better chance of beating the rap if they could somehow raise the scratch for a mouthpiece.

Judges whose preference is for a quiet life may not be fans of a hard-charging indigent defender board either. Besides, a paucity of private attorneys in the courthouse may have dire implications for judicial fund-raising.

Singer sees himself as the victim of his own success, and he obviously has a point. But that is not the whole story. If Singer has any doubts about his own intellectual and moral superiority, he does an excellent job of concealing them. His knack for rubbing judges up the wrong way is legendary.

Marullo claims a nobler motive than personal animosity, however. He sees himself preserving the rule of law against Singer's arrogant campaign to subvert it.

The case that brought the feud to a head was not the most sensational ever to hit criminal court. Reese Sims, charged with the felonious theft of copper from, of all places a cop's house, appeared for arraignment in July.

Marullo found him entitled to an indigent defender, and appointed Joshua Perry to the job.

At a hearing the next month, however, Sims, having made bail, appeared dressed, as Marullo put it, "nice."

Marullo, determining that Sims owned "a house and vehicles," decided he was not poor enough for a free lawyer after all. Appearances may be deceptive, however. According to the indigent defender board, Sims, dapper though he may be, earns less than $10,000 a year, drives an old jalopy and lost his house in Katrina.

Regardless, Marullo kicked Perry off the case and told Sims, "If you don't come back with a lawyer, I will appoint one, but you won't be walking around."

Judges deciding whether a defendant may remain free pending trial traditionally consider the gravity of the alleged crime and whether there is a threat to society or a flight risk. Marullo, at least in this case, disdained such niceties. It was pay up or go jail.

When Sims appeared for trial Nov. 8, he did indeed have an attorney. But that attorney was Bradley Black, who also works at the Loyola law clinic and was appearing pro bono. That is why Singer, not Sims, faces immediate incarceration.

Singer had arranged for Black to represent Sims and helped prepare for trial. The indigent defender board's investigator, moreover, was still working on the case. Singer maintains he did not violate Marullo's order and was obliged by the rules of professional conduct to assist when another attorney took over in midstream.

Marullo, presumably not sharing that view, cited Singer for contempt, called off the trial and told Sims that Black would not be allowed to represent him. Since Black does not work for the indigent defender board, Marullo's authority to issue that order is questionable, but the judge's opinion tends to prevail in a courtroom.

Singer, when he heard what was going on, rushed down to Marullo's court, where he was briefly handcuffed before being ordered to return for a hearing last week.

It did not come as a great shock when Marullo decided to uphold Marullo and find Singer guilty. Marullo declared violating a "lawful order of the court" was "not a professional or ethical way to handle things," and noted it was unfair to saddle the public with the cost of defending suspects who could afford to pay themselves. He would, of course, be right on both counts if his premises were correct. Singer's view is that they are not.

Marullo looked pretty stern in court, and there is a real possibility that Singer will have to ask the appeal courts to let him out of jail. Luckily, he can afford a good lawyer.


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