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Public defenders to stop in-person appearances at Municipal Court due to reported COVID-19 outbreak
The Orleans Public Defenders will cease all in-person appearances at New Orleans Municipal and Traffic court due to what they are calling an “ongoing outbreak of COVID-19” at the court, and after one of their own attorneys who appeared there “almost daily” tested positive.
According to a Monday afternoon press release, the office was informed early last week — prior to the Thanksgiving holiday — that a court staff member had tested positive. Since then, one of their own attorneys also tested positive.
Read the full article at The Lens.
New Orleans City Council Approves Historic Funding for OPD
2021 Budget Approval Puts OPD Funded at 65% of the DA’s Local Funding, Pushing Closer to Equity and Funding Parity in New Orleans
Yesterday, the New Orleans City Council brought the city closer to fairness and equity with the approval of an historic appropriation of $3,400,000 for the Orleans Public Defenders Office (OPD). This amends the proposed $1,626,442 by the Mayor and increases the appropriation to 65% of that allotted to the District Attorney. The budget amendment comes after the City Council unanimously passed the funding parity ordinance in August mandating an 85% parity threshold between OPD and the DA. The ordinance and the adopted appropriation begins to close the resource gap between public defense and prosecution, and level the playing field for people navigating the legal system. The amended appropriation includes the 20% cut proposed along with other city emergency austerity measures due to the unprecedented COVID19 pandemic and fiscal crisis.
NEW ORLEANS PUBLIC DEFENDERS ARE MOBILIZING TO “FLIP THE BENCH”
These candidates are highlighting the power of judges to challenge mass incarceration.
In July, during a three-day period when candidates for elected office in Orleans Parish had to file their paperwork, court clerk Arthur Morrell set up a Facebook Live video feed in his office.
As each candidate ambled in, masked and holding documents, Morrell greeted them, “Hello, you are on Facebook Live, can you please introduce yourself?”
Familiar faces appeared, like an incumbent judge who was filing for re-election and an ambitious New Orleans City Council member who was running to be district attorney.
But then, a series of unexpected candidate hopefuls showed up: seven current and former public defenders who were seeking election as judges, including Derwyn Bunton, chief of the Orleans Public Defenders.
Read the full article at The Appeal.
City Council passes ordinance bringing public defender budget closer to DA’s office
The New Orleans City Council voted to enact an ordinance on Thursday that will require the city to fund the Orleans Public Defenders at 85 percent of the amount that it allocates to the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office — equal to the proportion of criminal cases the public defender’s estimate they handle in the city. The city currently gives the defenders about 35 percent of what it gives the DA.
Advocates say the law will translate to more equity in the courtroom for defendants facing criminal charges in New Orleans. In a statement, the Orleans Public Defenders office said the vote was a “historic moment for New Orleans.”
“This ordinance strikes a blow at the structural disparities infecting our entire system,” the statement read. "Today sends a message that all New Orleanians are valued, not just the rich and well connected.”
Read the full article at The Lens.
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.
Advocacy in the time of COVID
By Staff Attorney Diana Yu
“How long will I be in jail?”
“When is my trial going to happen?”
“What’s going to happen when we go back to court?”
Every day, several of my clients call me from jail to ask these questions I don’t have the answers to.
And it’s hard to tell them the same thing every day: that I don’t know, and I don’t know when I’ll have answers for them. And there’s a second thought in my brain – that because of the coronavirus lockdown at the jail, my clients are only allowed out of their cell once a day for 30 minutes to make phone calls.
Imagine being locked up in a cage, worried about your family members on the outside, and trying to stay as connected as possible to your loved ones. In a time when people are staying more digitally connected than ever on FaceTime and Zoom, you’re cut off from the outside world more than ever. Maybe you have a family member who is sick or in the hospital. And still, you are using part of your precious 30 minutes a day to call your lawyer, hoping that he or she can give you some information, some hope for what the future holds.
It breaks my heart that I can’t give them that hope.
