Legal Groups Call For Indigent Defense Reforms in N.Y.

    March 8, 2007
    The Daily Record

    A leading group of New York State attorneys gathered Tuesday in support of Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye's call for a state takeover and overhaul of public defense services. The gathering came on the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Gideon v. Wainwright. Gideon, along with the 1965 state case of People v. Witenski, which extended similar constitutional protections in New York, called on the state to "honor its history of commitment to equal justice," a release from Malkin & Ross states.

    However, as Judge Kaye pointed out in her recent State of the Judiciary address, the current county-based system is in "severe disarray and should be replaced" by a statewide system with more consistent regulations and standards. A report of the Commission on the Future of Indigent Defense called the state's present system "an ongoing crisis" in which defendants' constitutional rights are too often surrendered to the urgent budgetary realities faced by counties struggling to make ends meet without state funding. The commission recommended a state takeover to better ensure quality and fair representation, with consistent statewide standards for the provision of such services.

    On Tuesday, the coalition of national, state and local groups joined defense lawyers and clients from throughout New York, including leaders from the New York State Defenders Association and its Client Advisory Board, the National and New York State Associations of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Committee for an Independent Public Defense Commission, the Legal Aid Society and others. They urged state legislators to provide an additional $6 million in the fiscal 2008 budget, which would allow creation of the infrastructure necessary to carry out the commission's recommendations.

    Buffalo attorney Vincent Doyle III, who serves as chairman of the New York State Bar Association's Special Committee to Ensure Quality of Mandated Representation, said that committee will convene a special session soon, bringing together leading members of the bench and bar along with defenders, counties and magistrates to build consensus regarding the recommendations. "We have evaluated the system, brought forward its experts and drafted a set of standards which have been adopted by the state bar for use by the Independent Public Defense Commission recommended by Judge Kaye when it begins the long overdue process of promulgating ... a set of meaningful and enforceable standards," Doyle said.

    Monroe County Public Defender Edward Nowak, who is also president of the New York State Defenders Association, said the state's living up to its commitment to equal justice under the law is long overdue. "Gideon and Witenski call to our better instincts to guarantee to all defendants their constitutionally mandated rights to an effective defense in criminal trials," Nowak said. "The Kaye commission report provides the framework for progress in the halls of the state Legislature. We urge lawmakers to seize this opportunity, and this obligation. "

    In her State of the Judiciary address, Judge Kaye made clear the need for an overhaul, acknowledging that while "most defenders are dedicated and diligent, the commission documented how the system is so poorly designed, so badly fractured between the state and localities, and so overburdened that only a complete overhaul would suffice. "With the commission's recommendations to guide us, we are currently working with the governor's office, with county governments and indigent defense providers to achieve consensus on a framework" for a new system in the state, Judge Kaye said.



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