Assignments in Butler County Common Pleas Court:
Judge Craig Hedric:
Damon Halverson, Michelle K. Temmel, Ian Stegmaier
Judge Andrew Nastoff: Dennis L. Adams, Christopher P. Fredrick, Billy W. Guinigundo
Judge Patricia Oney: Charles M. Conliff, Charles A. Lippert, Tamara S. Sack
Judge Charles Pater: Davis S. Albrecht, Geoffrey A. Modderman, Glenn J. Rossi
Judge Noah Powers: Ronald B. James, Jeremy J. Evans, Terri S. King
Judge Michael Sage: Gregory S. Beane, Scott D. Kruger, Donald C. LeRoy
Judge Keith Spaeth: David B. Brewer, Lawrence C. Hawkins, Robert J. Qucsai III
HAMILTON — The challenge to develop a money-saving system that assured Butler County’s indigent defendants are vigorously represented took more than two years to nail down, but the county’s public defender office is now open for business.
A long-standing system of randomly appointing attorneys from a list selected annually by judges is no more, effective May 9, and 36 lawyers employed by the public defender’s office stepped up to the podium.
All involved have hopes the new system will work and save taxpayers thousands, but with change comes doubt.
“The jury is still out,” said Lawrence C. Hawkins III, one of three public defenders assigned to Butler County Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth’s courtroom.
One concern is possible conflict of interests under the new system, one of which already happened just four days into the new venture in a murder case involving co-defendants also represented by public defenders.
Under the previous system, defense attorneys were assigned to indigent defendants charged with felonies when their cases were in the preliminary stages in municipal or area court. They then followed the case to common pleas court.
Now, 21 attorneys are assigned to common pleas court — three to each of the seven judges. The “room attorneys” are assigned cases after an indictment is returned and the case is randomly assigned to a specific judge.
A host of 14 other public defenders handle cases at the municipal level, so defendants will no longer receive what is called “vertical representation.” In other words, a different defense attorney will stand in municipal court with a defendant facing a felony and a second public defender will try the case to a conclusion in common pleas court.
“It makes a difference in continuity,” said Hawkins, who said he was questioned this week by a defendant who wanted to know the attorney was who had represented her in municipal court.
“Certainly all charges are important to the person, but as the charges are more serious, it becomes more unnevering for the person when they see different attorneys,” he said, adding communication among public defenders will be key.
Hawkins said that with just two weeks into the program, it is too early to tell how it will work, but noted the county has always been fortunate to have a “really good pool of attorneys.”
“That is still the case,” he said.
Attorney Chris Pagan, president of the county bar association and a member of the Public Defender Commission that developed the plan, said, “it is much more efficient for everyone involved.”
Under the former system, attorneys were paid by the hour to represent indigent defendants — $50 in court and $40 out of court. The fee was set by statute in 1997 and had no prospect of changing, Pagan said.
Attorneys who are now public defenders are part-time employees of the county, drawing a salary of $21,000 to $34,000 annually, depending on the type of cases. Because attorneys are now assigned to courtrooms, they will not have to sit in multiple courtrooms on multiple days waiting for their cases to be called.
“It frees them up to build their private practice,” Pagan said.
It also is expected to save money.
Overhaul leads to conflicts
An overhaul in the indigent defense system was the brainchild of Butler County Common Pleas Judge Michael Sage, who got his fellow judges on board. His proposal called for the attorneys to be assigned to specific courtrooms but be classified as private contractors.
Had the attorneys under the new system remained private contractors, Common Pleas Judge Craig Hedric said there would be no conflict issues that now exist under the public defenders system.
A conflict would arises because co-defendants charged in the same crime ethically cannot be represented by the same law firm or law partners. The public defenders office — located on the eighth floor of the Government Services Center in downtown Hamilton — is a law firm of sorts, thus the conflict of interest would apply to those attorneys.
A conflict happened just four days into the new venture when attorney David Brewer, who is now a public defender, asked to be removed from Phillip Platt’s case. Platt was just days away from trial on murder and aggravated robbery charges.
Attorney Melynda Cook is representing Riccardo Renfro, Platt’s co-defendant. Cook also is a member of the public defenders office assigned to Middletown Municipal Court.
During a May 13 hearing before Judge Patricia Oney, Brewer cited the standards of representation document he signed when he became an assistant public defender stating, “An assistant public defender shall not represent a criminal defendant if he/she or another assistant public defender represents or represented a co-defendant at any critical state of the proceedings.”
Oney ruled because Platt’s case was to be tried first, Brewer would remain on the case and Cook’s status would be reviewed for Renfro’s representation.
“It will be a problem in some cases,” Brewer said.
A list of “conflict attorneys” has been compiled to be appointed in those situations. They will be paid an hourly rate. How much money will be needed to pay those attorneys is an unknown.
That is the No. 1 concern,” Hedric said. “We could be back in the same boat, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on court-appointed counsel.”
Hedric said his is pleased with the attorneys assigned to his courtroom and is hopeful the public defender system proves cheaper and more effective.
Unknown factors inherent to crime
Determining an annual amount to budget when it comes to the number of criminal cases expected is not an exact science, but in years past that number has only been going up.
Pete Landrum, Butler County director of management and budget, said in 2010 the county’s budget for indigent defense was $1,563.861. The first year budget for the public defenders office is $1,441,745.
“But there is always going to be an unknown depending on the amount of cases, how long the case takes,” Landrum said. “But now we will at least have a good solid number at the beginning of the year because we are paying a salary to a core of attorneys.”
System poised to work efficiently
Hamilton attorney Michael Weisbrod has been hired by the public defenders commission as the pubic defender for the county and will serve as the department head.
“I think it will work,” Weisbrod said. “But it will take time to while we are in transition. In a year we are going to know if the system is working well.”
Butler County Common Pleas Court Administrator Gary Yates said, “I think the cases will move through a lot smoother.”
The former system was expensive and it was difficult to monitor whether attorneys were billing correct hours to the county.
“We did document some double-billing and overbilling of hours, Yates said. One notable tally came from an attorney who billed the county for working 24 hours in one day.
“One of the main reasons for overhauling the system was to save money,” Yates said. “Yes, there are going to be growing pains and we may not see a big saving in the first year.”
Quality won’t be sacrificed
Attorney Jack Grove, a member of the public defenders commission, said good representation is not being sacrificed to save money.
“Saving money has nothing to do with quality of defense,” Grove said. “The system was formed on the notion of distribution of justice.”
He likened it to getting a bargain while shopping.
“It is no different than going to two different stores and finding a comparable product at a less price. You still get the same quality of product.”
Contact this reporter at (513)
820
-
2168
or
lpack
@coxohio.com.
About the Author
