Assembly passes bill changing public defender funding

After years of complaints from critics who said publicly funded criminal defense attorneys are underpaid, Albany lawmakers moved quickly Friday to alter the state's system for providing lawyers to poor people charged with crimes.

A bill touted by Gov. David A. Paterson and passed Friday by the Assembly would create a state Office of Indigent Legal Services and change the funding formula that allows counties to provide public defenders. The bill, part of a larger funding bill for law enforcement, is expected to pass the state Senate next week.

Paterson said Friday the new office would "help ensure that, whether a defendant is wealthy or poor, he or she will have access to effective and meaningful legal representation."

Critics say legal representation for poor defendants varies widely, partly they say because public defenders and county Legal Aid societies are understaffed and underfunded.

For the first time, supporters of the bill said, legal representation for indigent defendants statewide would be monitored by Albany, which now only reimburses counties for lawyers who defend the poor.

"The state has refused to take on responsibility for the problem and instead delegated it to the counties," said Corey Stoughton, senior staff attorney for the New York Civil Liberties Union, which has sued the state, charging it with failing to provide adequate legal representation to thousands of poor defendants. The suit was filed in 2007 on behalf of several indigent criminal defendants, including four from Suffolk County, and is pending in state Supreme Court in Albany.

Stoughton said the bill "sets up an infrastructure for the state to assert its responsibility."

The office would monitor cases handled by public defenders and recommend improvements. A separate Indigent Legal Services Board, with Court of Appeals Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman as chairman, would distribute $7 million in grants to counties that develop innovative ways to provide attorneys to the poor, the governor's office said.

Funding now is based on a county's population and how much it spends on public defenders. Critics, such as Assemb. Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove), say the system encourages wasteful spending.

Under the new system, said Lavine, a former Legal Aid attorney, "There will be a lesser likelihood that public money will be wasted on lawyers who are not up to the task, and at the same time it will improve the integrity of the criminal justice system."

As provided for in the bill, the Office of Indigent Legal Services, expected to cost $8.5 million in the current budget year, would be funded through fees on certain court services, such as criminal history searches, and a new fee on foreign-educated lawyers taking the state bar exam.

The legislation was welcomed by Susan Menu, a Riverhead criminal defense attorney.

"There's nothing more important than improving legal representation," she said. "It's unfortunate that money gets you good legal representation and lack of money doesn't."