No money for public defender in New Orleans?

[question everything]

There is a blip in today's WSJ - which I cannot even find online - that "A New Orleans judge halted cases involving public defenders, saying funding to pay them, which comes from court fees and traffic fines, is gone."

[nemo137]

1. not surprised. public defenders are underpaid eveywhere

not surpised they'd be the first to go in our own little wasteland.

[question everything]

2. And this is when so many programs were cut by Bush

and his Congress... as long as the fat cats can get fatter

[SeaBob]

3. Public defender

I am not surprised at that . Most 1st world states get the money for their public defenders from their legislature. as a result of
Gideon v Wainwright.

[SoCalDem]

4. Poor people use public defenders.. Poor people = GONE

poof..no need for public defenders..

The few remaing poor will just be treated to "instant street justice".. That oughtta teach 'em :sarcasm:

[pitohui]

10. middle class people can't afford lawyers either

sheesh even a dui case costs ten grand if you hire a lawyer

if you are falsely accused of a real crime you lose everything financially unless you are wealthy

the lack of public defenders is an issue for all of us

[SoCalDem]

12. middle class people have nothing to worry about it they behave themselves

:ducks: :sarcasm:

[pitohui]

13. if you say so!

not in my humble experience, they just get more of a free pass :-)

c'mon have you ever known a middle class person who did not experiment w. drugs for instance?

[SoCalDem]

17. That would be ME !!

Never had any drugs.. (except for tobacco)..

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I also read that many trials were canceled

since evidence was destroyed.

[pitohui]

8. people seeking DNA exoneration thru innocent project are f'd

it is very sad that the dna evidence required to exonerate rape and murder victims was destroyed, one man had waited 30 years to get the court to rule the dna could be used as evidence, the next week came katrina

he will never get out of prison now

we've had several cases where DNA proved the wrong rapist or killer was in prison, it is a crime that people have to spend years or decades fighting to get DNA accepted since it is real science! and now any other wrongly accused in orleans has no hope of ever being exonerated

sickening

the innocence project is trying to see if the flooded DNA can be recovered but i would not expect anything

[pitohui]

6. yes, there will be no criminal trials for awhile

you didn't imagine it and it was online, nola.com sometimes takes these stories down too soon, but you didn't just imagine reading that, it's the sorry truth

i guess they will just be releasing these folks, fine if they're innocent, not so fine if they're violent criminals, sigh

the murders have already started again, some mentally slow man was just shot down on his porch last night

is there no end to this crap?

[pitohui]

7. ok try this link

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1139644832192870.xml

they haven't perma-linked it yet but it's something for now

The New Orleans criminal justice system, severely crippled by Katrina, inched perilously close to a complete shutdown Friday when a district judge suspended all cases in his section assigned to the cash-starved and attorney-depleted public defender's office, setting a legal precedent that probably would affect the entire criminal court.
Criminal Court Judge Arthur Hunter ruled that the Orleans Parish Indigent Defender Program can no longer adequately represent poor defendants in his section. The other 11 New Orleans judges are expected to follow, potentially affecting thousands of cases, officials said.

"For all practical purposes, the public defender program no longer exists," Hunter told a hubbub-filled federal courtroom being used by the court on a rotating basis until its Tulane and Broad headquarters can reopen.

Because the public defender's office acts as a legal safety net for more than 80 percent of all criminal defendants in the city, Hunter's suspension could effectively bring the court system to a halt before it stages its first post-Katrina trial.

[question everything]

18. Thank you. Glad to see that someone is writing about this (nt)

[flyarm]

9. and to think 'MARY MARY QUITE CONTRARY " thought * would

help louisiana if she voted for alito!!

such a fool!!

fly

[pitohui]

11. she didn't vote for alito

*buzz* thanks for playing but next time check your facts before crapping on the one senator we have who is actually trying to do something for us

[sandnsea]

14. True, but

she didn't filibuster and she still seems to think you can make progress by being cooperative with Bush. As do many of our red state Dems. I know she's trying very hard to get things done for LA, but she just doesn't seem to understand she's up against a governing philosophy that doesn't WANT to get anything done because they don't believe government should.

[flyarm]

15. she didn't vote for filibuster..so she virtually did vote for alito! n/t

[peacebaby3]

16. Terrible! My state doesn't even have a public defender system! n/t

[question everything]

19. Wouldn't this be a nice project for Edwards?

After all, he is/was a trial lawyer. Wouldn't it be nice to mobilize trial lawyers to go to New Orleans to do pro bono work? Here defendants could get first class defense..