[Vision2020] The niceties of public defense

[Tom Hansen]

No matter how you cut it, $77,000 per year of "additional" income (to a
private practice) that does not require accountability outside of one's 1040
form is pork.

All we are requiring is fiscal accountability.  This is not a new concept,
people.  School districts deal with it year after year after year after . .
.

And to compound the issue with such brilliant statements as "If public
defenders were defending all their cases aggressively, the courts could not
handle the work . . ." goes way beyond ludicrous.  We demand . . . No . . .
We require teachers to pursue their responsibilities in an aggressive
manner.  So, why not public defenders?

If I ever require the services of a criminal attorney in Latah County, I
will be thankful that I will not be reduced to calling on a public defender.
If I am not guilty of a crime, I certainly do not want to be punished simply
because it clears out the public defender's In Box.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-admin@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-admin@moscow.com]On
Behalf Of Aldoussoma@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 11:04 PM
To: auntiestablishment@hotmail.com; vision2020@moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] The niceties of public defense



Auntiestablishment et.al.

Oh, but indeed, the public defenders are there to make life easy for law
enforcement and to make friends with the prosecutor.  Can you imagine what
would happen to our law enforcement and legal system if public defenders
were like Alan Dershowitz?  Cops would be testifying in court so often, and
be charged with misconduct with such regularity, that the Feds might have to
send 87 billion to America's cities as an infrastructure rebuilding grant to
help secure Democracy in the USA.

And being buddy buddy with the prosecutor, swapping deals on cases so both
the PD and prosecutor get what they want, helps keep both sides happy.  If
public defenders were defending all their cases aggressively, the courts
could not handle the work.  Oh, sure, there are innocent people who get sent
up the river, while some real scary bad asses go free, but as long as the
voters think the prosecutor is taking on the dangerous crime, i. e. the
stuff the media pushes to exploit the hysteria of the public to push the
nielsen ratings and sell advertising, then the prosecutor is an electable
savior.

Till we regulate the cost of lawyers to bring it closer to what the average
Joe or Jane can afford, we will never have a fair legal system.  Not many
public defenders will work hard on a defense with the pay they get, and the
best lawyers, with only a few exceptions, go for the money, which means they
are NOT doing PD cases.

Ted