2007 Fair Defense In the News
Bromgard suit blames defender system; 12/26/2007 (Montana)
BILLINGS GAZETTE: When Jimmy Ray Bromgard was convicted in 1987 of raping an 8-year-old Billings girl and was sentenced to 40 years in prison, he was represented by John Adams, a public defender for Yellowstone County. Adams, formerly a Yellowstone County attorney, has since died. Adams' defense of Bromgard is at the heart of a claim Bromgard has filed against the county in a $16.5 million federal lawsuit naming both the county and the state. DNA testing eventually exonerated Bromgard of the rape in 2002, and he was released from state prison after 15 years behind bars.
Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense Update; 6/21/2007
TCJC: Jim Bethke, Executive Director of the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense, used this presentation to update stakeholders at a meeting in Corpus Christi on June 21st. This is a video version of the powerpoint presentation. Each slide is timed to run 15 seconds.
Prosecution of poor costlier than defense; 6/27/2007
KNOXVILLE SENTINEL: Tennessee taxpayers pay more than twice as much money to prosecute poor people as they do to defend them, a study being made public today concludes. A research and consulting firm specializing in the study of indigent defense concluded as much as $140 million is committed each year in Tennessee to prosecuting the poor. That is compared to $56.4 million the Spangenberg Group study contends is spent defending Tennessee’s indigent defendants. “This extreme disparity in prosecution versus defense resources jeopardizes the fairness and accuracy of the Tennessee indigent defense system,” the report stated.
HUNTSVILLE ITEM: Indigent defense is one of many unfunded mandates placed on the shoulders of counties statewide. The mandate turns out to be one of the costliest for counties because more people taken to county jails qualify for indigent defense. Counties, including Walker, have to budget funds for indigent defense each fiscal year, but too often they find the original budget being exceeded and they are forced to dip into contingency funds. During her report for the month ending May 31, county auditor Patricia Allen told Commissioners Court on Monday morning that indigent defense costs have exceeded the budgeted funds.