Indigent defense still falling short, court panel says

Despite judicial efforts to improve indigent defense, public defender systems in Nevada fail to meet constitutional standards, members of a Supreme Court commission said Tuesday.

The 2009 state Legislature, which convenes next month, will be the next stop for possible reform, they said.

A nearly two-year discussion of indigent defense by the state's high court is set to shift to the political arena with a bill and a bill draft request aimed at helping poor defendants get adequate legal counsel.

Assembly Bill 45, sponsored by the Nevada Association of Counties, seeks to make state government fully responsible for funding indigent defense in every county.

The bill draft request, by the public defender's office, calls for a statewide body to oversee public defender systems.

Both bill proposals got strong support Tuesday from a Supreme Court indigent defense subcommittee that is seeking the justices' backing for the proposals.

Six of the court's seven justices were present at the hearing. Justice Ron Parraguirre didn't attend.

"Obviously, the funding of indigent defense is the most important challenge we face today, especially in the face of Nevada's current economic crisis," said Seventh Judicial District Court Judge Dan Papez, co-chairman of the Supreme Court's rural subcommittee on indigent defense. "But we believe that under the Sixth Amendment, it's the state's responsibility to subsidize any defense delivery system."

Papez's district includes White Pine, Lincoln and Eureka counties.

The Supreme Court formed the indigent defense commission in 2007 after a series of Review-Journal articles on problems with Clark County's system of providing counsel to defendants unable to afford private lawyers.

In October, the court adopted performance standards for all criminal defense lawyers in Nevada. The last major question for the justices to consider is whether to set caseload limits for public defenders. Clark and Washoe counties are participating in studies to gauge the need for such limits.

The remaining proposed changes require legislative approval.

And they require state money.

The annual cost of public defense in Nevada is almost $45 million. More than three-quarters of that is paid by Clark County for its public defender system. The state pays only about $2.5 million of the cost of indigent defense in all of Nevada.

Nevada has a state public defender agency that provides lawyers to indigent defendants in counties with populations less than 100,000 that do not have county public defenders. All but four counties and Carson City have opted out of the state system, however, largely because it pays only about 20 percent of the cost in any county.

Only three states rely more on county funding of public defense than Nevada, according to a recent study by the Spangenberg Group, a national research organization that studies legal matters.

"What is particularly alarming to all of us is the constant creep and degradation of funding for the systems in those communities," Chief Justice James Hardesty said at Tuesday's hearing, which took place by teleconference in Carson City and Las Vegas.

John Lambrose, a federal public defender and co-chairman of the subcommittee that examined indigent defense in rural counties, said the bills would give "local control for counties, with state money."

Lambrose and Papez's rural courts report included a letter from several legal organizations saying that "for many years the State of Nevada has been aware of the problems with indigent defense."

The letter continues: "Nevertheless, neither the Legislature nor the executive branches have taken the steps necessary to address the problems and, as a result, the state has failed to meet its constitutional obligation to provide adequate indigent defense services."

Contact reporter Alan Maimon at amaimon@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0404.