Weak Public Defense System Forces Rural Poor Into Guilty Pleas, Nevada Lawsuit Says
Source: NBC News
NOV 2 2017, 8:48 PM ET
by JON SCHUPPE
Poor people who get charged with crimes in rural Nevada are getting cheated in court by a cash-starved public defense system that assigns lawyers who don't have enough time or resources to mount strong cases, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a lawsuit Thursday.
This "indigent defense crisis," as the ACLU describes it, relies on a network of overworked, court-appointed lawyers who are paid flat fees, making them less inclined to meet with clients, review their cases, challenge high bail amounts or hire investigators, the lawsuit said.
That, according to lawyers who filed the civil rights complaint, makes poor defendants more likely to get stuck in jail for long periods of time before trial, which in turn makes them more likely to plead guilty ─ even if they insist they did not commit the crimes.
"What you see is an incredible lack of contact with the clients by the defense attorneys," said Franny Forsman, a retired federal public defender in Nevada who joined the ACLU in the lawsuit.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/weak-public-defense-system-forces-rural-poor-guilty-pleas-nevada-n817011
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)'Poor people who get charged with crimes in rural Nevada are getting cheated in court by a cash-starved public defense system that assigns lawyers who don't have enough time or resources to mount strong cases.'
greyl
(22,990 posts)elleng
(131,414 posts)is not ''Poor people who get charged with crimes in rural Nevada.'
greyl
(22,990 posts)is true wherever it's true. The lawsuit's specificity does not rule out the phenomenon elsewhere.