BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A FOX 11 report indicates a public defender shortage is straining court systems across the state, with some defendants waiting in jails without an attorney for weeks, if not months, according to Brown County court officials.
Since the start of the pandemic, the State Public Defender’s Office says 78 staff members have left for higher paying jobs.
Brown County court officials say if something isn’t done, delays will continue in the courts and serious criminals could potentially be freed.
The State Public Defender’s Office in Green Bay currently has about 350 cases where an outside attorney needs to be assigned, according to Hon. Tammy Jo Hock, a Brown County Circuit Court Judge.
“That is a lot of cases,” said Hock. “He indicated that Outagamie County has to appoint on 50 and they think they’re in a dire situation.”
Hock, Court Commissioner Paul Burke, and District Attorney David Lasee explained the need for more public defenders to Brown County’s public safety committee Tuesday evening.
“A thing that is really impacting cost to Brown County is the amount of time that people are spending in custody and it’s not recoverable cost,” said Hock.
As of about a month ago, 17 inmates had been in the Brown County jail more than 100 days without being assigned an attorney. 27 inmates had been waiting between 30 and 100 days. Lasee says most are likely felony cases.
“Our local SPD office takes between 18 and 20 percent of the Class A, B, and C felonies,” said Lasee. “That means 80 percent of the serious cases they have to farm out to private bar lawyers. As you can imagine, it’s far more difficult to find a lawyer to take a second degree sexual assault or to take an attempted homicide or to take an armed robbery.”
The constitution says criminal defendants have the right to an attorney.
State law requires a preliminary hearing to be held within 10 days of someone making their initial court appearance. To allow more time for an attorney to be found, Brown County has been adjourning initial appearances, often for six weeks. However, there’s concern an upcoming court of appeals ruling could end the practice, prompting a flood of cases that could be thrown out. As long as a constitutional right isn’t violated, court officials say those cases can be refiled.
“There is case law out there that says delays more than a year could potentially trigger a constitutional speedy trial violation,” said Lasee.
The Brown County court officials believe a major reason for the public defender shortage is pay. State law says the public defender’s office must pay outside attorneys $70 an hour.
“I think a lot of people once they have experience, once they can really get their own clients, they can charge so much more than $70 an hour that they really don’t want to take these cases,” said Hock.
Governor Tony Evers proposed in his budget to adjust the pay rate every two years by a percentage that correlates with the federal Department of Labor’s consumer price index. However, Republicans have said they plan to write and pass their own budget.
County leaders are planning a conference call with state lawmakers soon to talk about the issue.
The State Public Defender’s office told FOX 11 it did not have anyone available for an interview for this report.
Governor Evers recently signed bipartisan legislation increasing merit pay raises for public defenders. However, that is only for one fiscal year, using money saved by the recent statewide public defender job openings.
