Post by SoulTrainOz on Jun 21, 2006 23:37:11 GMT -5
penalty cases -- Extra money will help with parish caseload
New death-penalty cases in New Orleans will be handled by a state-financed group that previously dealt only with cases in which the local public defenders had a conflict of interest.
The Louisiana Indigent Defense Assistance Board approved a proposal Tuesday to give the Capital Defense Project of Southeast Louisiana $460,750 for one year to hire more staff to handle the additional caseload. The board that oversees indigent defense in Orleans Parish has asked for the assistance so that local public defenders can deal with the 32 defendants who were indicted pre-Katrina and await trial, said Edward Greenlee, director of the state board.
The extra money, which will be made available July 1, will allow the southeast Louisiana defense office to get started on the cases of 8 defendants who have been indicted but do not yet have attorneys, said Kerry Cuccia, director of the group. Death-penalty cases are usually for 1st-degree murder.
The money comes from an additional $10 million allocated to the state indigent defense board, doubling what it typically has to supplement the budgets of local public defenders. Jancy Hoeffel, a professor at Tulane Law School who sits on the state board, said the group will have to determine how to divvy up the additional money for the 2006-07 fiscal year.
This likely will include considering any requests from the overloaded Orleans Parish system struggling to become operational again after Hurricane Katrina.
The group also will consider a nearly $3 million proposal by the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana and 2 other defender groups to help set up 3 model public defense offices in the state to represent young offenders. One of the offices would be in Orleans Parish, and the others would be in Shreveport and Lake Charles.
In other action, the state indigent defense board adopted tougher performance standards for public defenders, which Hoeffel said will help young attorneys hired to represent defendants better understand their jobs.
Along with caseload standards previously adopted by the board, Hoeffel said these new guidelines will help the group hold local defense offices accountable for the kind of representation they provide to defendants who cannot afford to pay for private attorneys.
(source: Times-Picayune)
New death-penalty cases in New Orleans will be handled by a state-financed group that previously dealt only with cases in which the local public defenders had a conflict of interest.
The Louisiana Indigent Defense Assistance Board approved a proposal Tuesday to give the Capital Defense Project of Southeast Louisiana $460,750 for one year to hire more staff to handle the additional caseload. The board that oversees indigent defense in Orleans Parish has asked for the assistance so that local public defenders can deal with the 32 defendants who were indicted pre-Katrina and await trial, said Edward Greenlee, director of the state board.
The extra money, which will be made available July 1, will allow the southeast Louisiana defense office to get started on the cases of 8 defendants who have been indicted but do not yet have attorneys, said Kerry Cuccia, director of the group. Death-penalty cases are usually for 1st-degree murder.
The money comes from an additional $10 million allocated to the state indigent defense board, doubling what it typically has to supplement the budgets of local public defenders. Jancy Hoeffel, a professor at Tulane Law School who sits on the state board, said the group will have to determine how to divvy up the additional money for the 2006-07 fiscal year.
This likely will include considering any requests from the overloaded Orleans Parish system struggling to become operational again after Hurricane Katrina.
The group also will consider a nearly $3 million proposal by the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana and 2 other defender groups to help set up 3 model public defense offices in the state to represent young offenders. One of the offices would be in Orleans Parish, and the others would be in Shreveport and Lake Charles.
In other action, the state indigent defense board adopted tougher performance standards for public defenders, which Hoeffel said will help young attorneys hired to represent defendants better understand their jobs.
Along with caseload standards previously adopted by the board, Hoeffel said these new guidelines will help the group hold local defense offices accountable for the kind of representation they provide to defendants who cannot afford to pay for private attorneys.
(source: Times-Picayune)