THE DEFENSE
NEVER RESTS
ated the state’s public defender
offices, and mandates that they
accept clients who fall below the
state’s poverty line.
“Show me where it allows you
to decline cases for people who
cannot afford lawyers,” Dean says.
“Specifically in the act, it does
not say that,” Flora concedes.
Dean moves on, focusing on the
county’s precarious finances. “You
are aware, sir, that other departments in the county have suffered
layoffs?” he says. “Is it fair to say
that while other offices are being
asked to do more with less, you
are asking to do less with more?”
Next up is Leffstein, the indigent defense expert, serving as a
witness for the plaintiffs.
“I cannot tell you how unprecedented this hearing is,”
he whispers to a reporter, as he
gathers his papers and makes his
way to the stand.
Under questioning from the
ACLU, Leffstein describes his
analysis of caseloads handled by
the Luzerne County defenders.
Part-time attorneys, he says, handle an average of 74 felony cases
— including homicides and sex
offenses — and 33 misdemeanors at a time, as well as handling
their own appeals. The full-time
HUFFINGTON
10.28.12
lawyers handle roughly the same
amount of cases and appeals,
but also hundreds of parole and
probation violation cases. The
support staff is “woefully inadequate,” he says.
“Given the caseloads that they
have, they must necessarily fail
to deliver competent representation,” he says. “When you have
over 100 clients who you are simultaneously representing, what
occurs is a form of triage, where
you deal with only the most immediate problems of the day.”
The hearing, which started
at 9:30 in the morning, ends at
about 7 p.m., with Augello declaring that he is taking the arguments “under advisement.” A few
days later he orders the two sides
to begin negotiations.
In mid-June, the judge issues
a remarkable 25-page decision.
It broadly accepts as fact Flora’s
depiction of his office as teetering
on the brink of collapse. “To describe the current state of affairs
in the Office of the Public Defender as approaching crisis stage
is not an exaggeration,” he writes.
He finds that Leffstein’s expert
opinion on staffing was “well articulated and persuasive.”
Augello orders the county to