Council: Public defender cuts may compromise representation

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Scores of public defenders would have to be furloughed for more than a month over the next year under a set of worst-case budget cuts mandated by the state. Such lengthy furloughs would compromise legal representation, delay trials and keep the accused in jail for prolonged periods before their trials, members of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council said Friday.

“This is a godawful situation for this council,” said board member Ron Cross, who also serves as chair of the Columbia County Commission.

Because of decreasing tax revenues, the governor last month directed state agencies to submit budgets with cuts of 4 percent, 6 percent and 8 percent for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. At its Friday board meeting, the defender council approved such proposals.

The council oversees public defender offices in 43 of the state’s 49 judicial circuits. The offices provide legal representation to tens of thousands of poor people accused of crimes.

Hardest hit by the proposed budget cuts would be the Tallapoosa Circuit Defender Office, which serves Haralson and Polk counties. Defenders there would have to take 31 furlough days if the council’s budget has to be cut by 6 percent and 41 days if cut by 8 percent.

“We’ve already cut everything we could cut,” David Smith, who heads the Tallapoosa office, said Friday. “This would be awful. It would hamper on our entire court system.”

Steven Purvis, who heads the Rockdale defender office, called the proposed cuts “devastating.” His defenders would have to take three weeks of furlough days with a 6 percent cut or a month off with an 8 percent cut.

Mike Berg, elected Friday as the council’s new chairman, said the agency will ask Gov. Sonny Perdue for a waiver so the already cash-strapped system won’t have to endure more deep cuts. “We’re going to have to go back and talk to those folks and tell them what our true needs are,” said Berg, a retired Georgia Power employee who chairs the Dawson County Commission.