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Coronavirus is making it harder for poor New Orleanians to get a fair trial
The city’s top public defender Friday warned significant budget shortfalls related to the COVID-19 pandemic are already threatening the viability of the program despite a much needed injection of cash just 10 days ago, and said furloughs and other programmatic cuts could return.
And that could make it hard, if not impossible, to mount an adequate defense, particularly for residents who can't afford to pay for lawyers or expert witnesses on their own.
Read the full article here.
In Response to the Death of George Floyd and Police Brutality
The staff of the Orleans Public Defenders Office (OPD) are both saddened and outraged by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. We send our condolences to their families and their communities in Minneapolis; Houston; Louisville; and Glynn County, Georgia.
The deaths of Ms. Taylor and Mr. Floyd at the hands of Louisville and Minneapolis Police add to the already shameful list of African-Americans senselessly and needlessly killed by law enforcement in this country. Given the particularly acute level of unrest in Minneapolis, we hope the arrest of one of the officers responsible for Mr. Floyd’s death marks the beginning of police accountability and closure for Mr. Floyd’s family and the Minneapolis community. We also hope – as we hope each time this kind of tragedy repeats itself – this injustice is the one that leads to fundamental change in our criminal legal system throughout the country.
We are not surprised by the horrific video or the horrible outcome in Mr. Floyd’s encounter with police. We at OPD, and public defenders across the country, see the dehumanization and indifference to our clients and poor black and brown communities. We combat the assumption of dangerousness every day. On a daily basis, we call out the ordinary and extraordinary injustices poor people and people of color face in our criminal legal system. Indeed, it is OPD’s job to question and hold power accountable, all while dignifying and humanizing our clients, their families, and their communities – insisting, demanding their lives matter, their voices matter.
The Lens: Public defenders ask court to toss 3,000 cases stemming from city begging ordinance previously found unconstitutional
The Orleans Public Defenders asked the New Orleans Municipal Court this week to toss out over 3,000 open cases stemming from a city ordinance that outlaws begging, along with any pending fines and fees.
The local law was declared unconstitutional in a 2013 ruling from Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Arthur Hunter. The ruling was later upheld by the state’s Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal and the Louisiana Supreme Court after the District Attorney’s office appealed.
It appears that the city has mostly stopped enforcing the begging prohibition since 2013, but there are still outstanding cases from charges filed prior to Hunter’s ruling. According to the public defenders’ motions, nearly 1,000 of them have attachments — meaning a person could be arrested for the outstanding charge.
“We need to get rid of them, because there are 1,000 people who could get picked up at any given time by NOPD,” said Lauren Anderson, the Supervising Attorney at Municipal and Magistrate Court for the public defenders, who filed the motions.
Read the full article at The Lens.
OPD Files Motions to Dismiss Unconstitutional Charges and Attachments in Municipal Court
This week, the Orleans Public Defenders Office (OPD) filed a motion to quash in New Orleans Municipal Court for nearly 1,000 cases charged with begging, a charge deemed unconstitutional in 2013 by the Louisiana Supreme Court. The filing was a first step to clear the nearly 60,000 outstanding attachments in New Orleans and prioritize health and safety in Municipal Court as the city begins COVID-19 re-openings.
Last fall, a historic coordinated effort to resolve the outstanding warrants in New Orleans was brought to the New Orleans City Council. Led by Stand with Dignity and OPD, the Council unanimously voted for a resolution to waive fines and fees in these outstanding municipal cases and lift the attachments with Councilman Jason Williams acknowledging the cycle of poverty created when fines and fees are assessed without consideration to a defendant’s ability to pay, and the criminalization that occurs when warrants are issued for those who cannot pay.
“This is an important first step to begin removing the barriers for so many of our community members,” said OPD Supervising Attorney Lauren Anderson, who filed the motion. “For too long, court fines and fees have been a significant impediment to people being able to gain employment, maintain housing, or provide for their families. The added threat of arrest further deters their ability to access services and benefits, and simply harms our community.”
Will the Coronavirus Make Us Rethink Mass Incarceration?
Community groups have pointed out the social costs of the prison system for decades. Now the pandemic has exposed its public-health risks.
Read the full article here.
Expect delays for justice and pay cuts for Public Defenders, due to lack of funding and resources
Starting on April 15, Orleans Public Defenders began furloughing their leadership and management teams and the remain staff will be furloughed May 1.
“We shouldn’t have to sacrifice our constitution rights for public health,” said Derwyn Bunton, Chief Defender.
Unfortunately, that’s what is happening, due to the lack of funding. Orleans Public Defenders are projecting an $800,000 shortfall.
‘Public defenders are crucial in getting folks into court and arguing for their bond reduction for their out right release and for change in policy,” explained Bunton.
Their fear is the serious ramifications that come with the Covid-19 shut downs.
“What this does is crater our organization that when we come on the other side of this we are going to be in an immediate constitutional crisis. We won’t have enough resources to move cases. They will be stagnant and you can only prosecute as fast as you can defend.” reasoned Bunton.
The danger that brings, is the open cases that are in the system already will ‘die on the vine.”
“Those cases could also result in innocent people going to jail because we don’t have the resources to exonerate them to find the evidence to tell the district attorney and public that they didn’t do it,” said Bunton.
See the full interview at WGNO.
