Public defenders start declining some cases

by Marie Saavedra, KY3 News

» 3 Comments

By Gene Hartley

SPRINGFIELD -- A study in 2005 found Missouri's Public Defender System was "on the verge of collapse." A new strategy to prop it back up, at least for a while, began Wednesday.

The Missouri Public Defender System has 36 offices. All of them are working more cases than they can handle. The system provides defense attorneys for people who can't afford to hire private attorneys.

The 13 defenders for Greene County estimate they each have more than 150 cases open at any one time. So, in the name of better service, the system will no longer defend people accused of violating probation.

"Is it going to fix the problem? No. But it would hopefully give some relief to our attorneys,” said Rod Hackathorn, the supervisor of public defenders in Greene County. “Probation violations are not something that take a great deal of time as far as prepping them and getting ready to do them in court."

The hope is that private attorneys with the Springfield-Greene County Bar Association will volunteer to pick up these cases from the defenders. Both agencies are in talks to see if that's a possibility.

The defenders office says the overloaded system keeps it from giving clients’ cases the attention they deserve.

Not every public defender office in the state is turning probation violators away. The office in Greene County is just one of a handful for now.

Just about everyone says this strategy is a temporary fix. Defenders say only state money appropriated by the Legislature and governor for more staff will truly solve the problem of the large caseloads.

Thursday, Oct 2 at 9:37 AM Matt wrote ...

Who is going to defend the innocent ? We all cant afford Dee wampler. And getting it on credit is out of the question right now

Thursday, Oct 2 at 7:28 AM Randy Baker wrote ...

amen, but with the massive heretofore fully realized drug problem (in Greene County specifically) there is no answer. Meth alley (west Springfield) and the increasing stream of coke users on the south side continue to increase which inevitably leads to more crime.

Wednesday, Oct 1 at 7:14 PM Anonymous wrote ...

I think this is a positive step for the Public defender system. Repeat offenders shouldn't be allowed to use the public defender, it just shows them that they will always have a bail out for next time and takes up lawyers that could be helping someone that really needs it.

Add a comment

Name:

Comment: 500 Characters Left

Comments are screened for curse words and other inappropriate comments, and won't appear until they're reviewed. However, this is not the place to leave a message for someone in the newsroom. If you wish to contact KY3 News, please do so at our Contact Us section (http://www.ky3.com/about/contact).

KY3 and its affiliated companies are not responsible for the content of comments posted or for anything arising out of use of the above comments or other interaction among the users. We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, remove or edit user-generated content at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice, although we have no duty to do so or to monitor any Public Forum.

Please post comments in upper and lower case typing.

More Weather

On Demand

Stock Quotes

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

AP Video