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Arkansas public defenders hampered by governor’s limits on hiring

Home » Arkansas public defenders hampered by governor’s limits on hiring

Written by Will Langhorne, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

February 4, 2023

A limit on state hiring enacted by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders last month has kept public defenders across Arkansas from filling vacancies, straining attorneys already managing caseloads above national standards.

In a letter delivered to Sanders’ office Monday, Gregg Parrish, executive director of the Arkansas Public Defender Commission, wrote that losing just one attorney “impacts our court system immensely.”

At the time, Parrish said 18 out of 179 public defender positions and 11 support staff posts were vacant across the state. During an interview Thursday, Parrish said he expected three more attorneys to be gone by the end of the week.

Alexa Henning, a spokeswoman for Sanders, confirmed on Friday the governor’s office had received Parrish’s letter. In a written statement, Henning said “this is a problem within the public defenders office that didn’t start with the governor’s hiring freeze.

“The public defender’s office has been afforded every opportunity to hire talented individuals, and they will have the opportunity to go through the appropriate process to justify the need for these positions going forward.”

Public defenders are paid by the state and appointed by courts to represent indigent defendants. As defense attorneys, they are responsible for ensuring their clients receive effective counsel as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. For years, Arkansas public defenders have faced mounting workloads and struggled to attract attorneys to positions that generally pay less than those offered by prosecutor offices. During the coronavirus pandemic, a moratorium on trials led to a build-up of cases that pushed many beyond ethical standards.

While courts have reopened, Parrish said public defenders across the state are still handling more than the 150 felony cases per year currently recommended by the American Bar Association. Legal experts have argued that even these standards, which are 50 years old, may not go far enough to protect defendants’ rights.

“With the numbers that we have — the number of cases, the number of positions and crime being what it is — we’re always in catch-up mode. I don’t know if we’ll ever get out of catch-up mode,” Parrish said during an interview Monday. “It’s beyond a crisis.”

‘ARE WE THERE YET?’

Parrish has taken on two capital murder cases, which he said is uncommon especially during a regular legislative session. At least one district court judge with public defender vacancies has assigned Parrish to represent indigent clients. Without public defenders, courts have had to repeatedly continue cases.

“I’ve gotten a couple phone calls from judges and daily consults with public defender managers and the question is, ‘Are we there yet? Are we there yet?’” Parrish said Monday.

The same day Parrish sent his letter to Sanders, the chief public defender in Pulaski County objected to accepting cases where a defendant may face the death penalty, saying he had only one attorney with the credentials needed to handle such cases. In a motion filed Monday in Pulaski County Circuit Court, Mac Carder wrote his office had four vacancies but Sanders’ limits on hiring prevented him from filling the posts.

In his objection, Carder cited an opinion concerning attorney caseloads issued in 2021 by the state Supreme Court’s Office of Ethics Counsel. The opinion, which Parrish also cited in his letter, advises that a trial attorney confronted with a workload reasonably likely to produce ethical violations should refuse additional appointments until the caseload returns to acceptable standards.

On Jan. 24, the Department of Transformation of Shared Services issued a memorandum that stated all positions which receive no more than 28% of their funding from the state’s general revenue are exempt from the hiring freeze.

After learning of the exemption, Parrish emailed Kay Barnhill, state personnel director, asking if it would apply to the Public Defender Commission since the agency is funded through the State Central Services fund.

Barnhill replied the exemption would not apply to the commission since her office treats State Central Service positions the same as those funded through general revenue.

“I understand your needs and we are currently working through those issues,” Barnhill said in the email obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

When asked Friday if the Department of Transformation and Shared Services expected to grant exemptions to the hiring freeze for public defenders, Alex Johnston, chief of staff for the department, said, in an emailed statement, “This is still under review.”

Read the full article HERE.

The post Arkansas public defenders hampered by governor’s limits on hiring appeared first on Arkansas Department of Transformation and Shared Services.

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