Saturday marks the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright, the case that guarantees criminal defendants the right to an attorney, even if they can’t afford to hire one. The celebrated decision involved Clarence Earl Gideon, a Florida man who had appealed his conviction for violating his Sixth Amendment right to due process. He successfully argued that the judge failed to appoint a state-paid attorney to represent him.
After the court ruling in 1963, it was widely believed that the government had an obligation to provide assistance to those in need. “If you can’t afford a lawyer,” police officers tell suspects on arrest, “one will be arranged for you.” Judges tell defendants the same thing when they first appear in court.
The Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office had been providing attorneys to needy defendants for half a century prior to the Gideon decision. It was the first such office in the country.
But California is no longer the pacesetter. After the ruling, when most state governments began providing defense attorneys directly, California continued to delegate the task to its 58 individual counties, with no standards or oversight. Two dozen counties still don’t have public defense offices (including San Luis Obispo County and smaller counties in Northern California), but contract with individual law firms or attorneys, usually for fixed fees that are awarded to the lowest bidder, regardless of how much time it takes is. for appropriate representation.
California does not collect information that can be used to evaluate the appropriateness of an attorney’s services. However, there are sufficient indications that the quality of representation in many provinces is often insufficient. A State Legislative Analyst’s Office report last year found that lawyers working on fixed-fee defense contracts have little incentive to spend much time on their cases.
They probably encourage their clients to enter into quick plea deals. For the lawyer who can only manage with a heavy workload – one who has too little time with each defendant to perform an acceptable task – an early admission of guilt means that he does not spend precious time questioning witnesses, collecting evidence evidence and checking alibis or determining their identity. power. of the prosecution process. For a suspect, even an innocent one, this could mean jail time and face the serious consequences of a criminal conviction, including losing their home, their job, even custody of their children or, for some immigrants, the right to United States to reside UNITED STATES . Defendant plead guilty, appeal forfeited.
The Sixth Amendment Center, an organization that advocates for needy defenses that meet constitutional standards, found worrying deficiencies in Lake County north of the Bay Area. Poverty is high, the tax base is low and there is little money for defense services. Under a contract with the county, three attorneys outsource all needy defense to any attorney who chooses to sign up. No training is offered. The country offers no supervision. The state offers no assistance or supervision.
Counties with public defense agencies may also fall short. In Fresno County, for example, during an economic downturn a decade ago, the board of directors cut budgets for public defenders, leading to layoffs and unwittingly high workloads for those who stayed. A typical annual workload of 1,000 offenses was 1,000, which allowed each attorney just over two hours for each case, from initial questioning to hearing the plea, trial, and sentencing. It was absurd, and so the lawyers said. The ACLU sued the county and state for the fallout.
A 2020 settlement requires the state’s public defender’s office, which at the time only handled death penalty appeals, to now provide technical assistance at the court level. But the state agency remains underfunded and understaffed, and California still lacks state or county performance standards.
The smaller counties without public defense offices were overcrowded to the detriment of their poor residents, who are much more likely than others to be arrested and prosecuted. The system is a failure, especially for black and Hispanic residents, who are also disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system.
If the Sixth Amendment guarantee of legal representation is to be more than a slogan and the US system of equal justice is to be more than a proposition, then California needs to act. The state legislative analyst proposes legislation to measure the quality of defense for those in need — whether through funding requirements, caseload caps, or other metrics — and establishes minimum performance standards for effective attorney representation to which the state and counties must comply.
There are currently no such legislative proposals, but there should be. Gideon v. Wainwright made an important promise 60 years ago. It is time to settle the penniless defendants in this state.
Source: LA Times
Roger Stone is an author and opinion journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He is known for his controversial and thought-provoking views on a variety of topics, and has a talent for engaging readers with his writing.
