Departing — 04/22/08

Sat, May 17 2008

— Ernie Lewis, the head of Kentucky’s public defender program, has announced that he will retire Sept. 1. He is leaving a program that is woefully underfunded, virtually assuring that scores of indigent defendants will be inadequately represented by public defenders burdened with huge caseloads
Because of cuts mandated by the biennium budget that takes effect on July 1, Lewis announced last week that there will be 54 fewer public defenders in the state. That virtually assures the remaining public defenders will not be able to spend enough time with their indigent clients to do any more than learn only the most basic details about the charges against them. Thus, the harried public defenders will most likely pressure their clients to accept hastily drawn plea-bargain agreements. Regardless of the facts in the case, the public defender likely will pressure his or her clients to plead guilty just to quickly bring the case to an end.
Lewis spent his entire career as a public defender, willingly turning his back on the money he could have earned in private practice in order to represent poor people charged with crimes. He began his career as a public defender in 1977 and has been in his current position since 1997, being appointed by first Gov. Paul Patton and then Gov. Ernie Fletcher.
If the dire predictions Lewis has made about the impact of losing so many public defenders come true — and we think they will — the retired Ernie Lewis likely will take little comfort in shaking his head and saying, “I told you so.”