Published: July 08, 2008 04:33 pm            

Right cause, but — 07/09/08

Public defenders choose wrong method for addressing funding

We agree that the biennium budget approved by the 2008 General Assembly does not adequately fund the Department of Public Advocacy, and as a result, indigent defendants facing felony charges are more likely to receive inadequate legal representation. However, we disagree with the method public defenders have chosen to address the funding problem.

By filing a lawsuit that seeks to force the General Assembly to appropriate more money to pay for the legal defense of the indigents, the Department of Public Advocacy and Louisville and the Louisville Metro Public Defender's Office are attempting to have the courts usurp a power that rightly belongs with the legislative branch of government.

The proper way for public defenders to address their funding shortage is to petition legislators for more money. Their failure to convince the General Assembly of the dire impact eliminating 60 public defenders will have on the cause of justice in Kentucky means they will have to live with those cuts at least until when — and if — they can show indigent defendants have received poor representation from overworked public defenders. Until then, there is no basis for the courts ordering a funding increase.

In filing the lawsuit, Public Advocate Ernie Lewis, head of the Department of Public Advocacy, said his only goal is to “achieve equal justice under the law for poor people” and to “permanently resolve DPA’s chronic unmet need for sufficient funding, once and for all.”

We agree with that goal. Where we disagree with Lewis is that it should be achieved by approval of the elected members of the legislative branch of government, not by edict from the judicial branch. It is up to legislators, not judges, to determine what constitutes an adequate level of funding for a government service.

        

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