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Joseph Allen is lucky he could afford a lawyer to prove his innocence
By Innocence Project of New Orleans' Director Emily Maw
What if Joseph Allen and his family had been too poor to hire a lawyer? What if, like almost 85 percent of New Orleanians who have a family member charged with a crime, they had to rely on the Orleans Public Defenders to represent Mr. Allen?
He was charged with 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder on Nov. 27 because police believed he was one of the Bunny Friend Park shooters. He was completely innocent, his lawyer quickly proved that, and he walked free last week. But because our public defenders are woefully underfunded and under-resourced, if he had relied on the Orleans Public Defenders (OPD), that staff would probably have been unable to do the investigation needed to prove his innocence. He would have been wrongly convicted and likely sentenced to spend the rest of his life in Angola.
Read more at nola.com.
OPD to Begin Refusing Cases
OPD announced this morning the office will begin refusing case assignments due to chronic underfunding. OPD’s staff is now too under-resourced and overburdened to provide constitutional and ethical representations to many defendants in Orleans Parish. The office expects to begin refusing case assignments in mid-January 2016.
“Our workload has now reached unmanageable levels resulting in a constitutional crisis,” said Chief Defender Derwyn Bunton. “As Chief Defender, I can no longer ethically assign cases to attorneys with excessive caseloads or those that lack the requisite experience and training to represent the most serious offenses.”
The announcement was presented to Criminal District Court Judge Arthur Hunter at status hearing following the November 20, 2015 hearing and testimony on the office’s ability to provide constitutionally-mandated representation due to the continued funding crisis and service restrictions. Ethics and criminal defense practices experts testified that, in light of current caseloads, OPD cannot provide constitutional, ethical representation to its clients and attorneys regularly violate multiple Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct.
Budget Shortfalls and Furloughs to Close OPD
New Orleans – The Orleans Public Defenders (OPD) announced the implementation of anticipated furloughs for all staff due to continued funding shortages. Today, criminal justice stakeholders were provided notice of the actual furlough days and subsequent closure of the OPD offices for 10 days beginning February 2016. No public defenders will be available in any court. Additionally, OPD will not staff first appearances in any courts. While the timeframe was not nearly as severe as feared, the 10 days will cause substantial delays within the criminal justice system.
“We did not make this decision lightly and we regret the problems this will undoubtedly cause for our clients and our community," said Chief Defender Derwyn Bunton, “but we simply don’t have enough money to operate at full capacity. We have been warning decision makers about the potential fallout for some time now. No one should be surprised.”
Support Public Defense in New Orleans
Public defense in New Orleans is at a critical crossroads. While the recent announcement of a $150,000 increase to our 2016 appropriation was a welcome renewed commitment to OPD, we still remain drastically under-funded and outresourced compared to other criminal justice entities and face a continued budget shortfall. This threatens our community's right to an open and honest, efficient and effective criminal justice system.
The Orleans Public Defenders play a critical role in protecting the rights and well-being of our community, reducing recidivism by connecting people to jobs and services, and ensuring our criminal justice system remains fair and just, especially for New Orleans' poorest and most vulnerable citizens.
We make our final case for equal justice before the New Orleans City Council Thursday morning. We are asking for your support. Attend our budget hearing. Call your council representative and Mayor Landrieu to demand full funding for OPD and parity within our criminal justice system. If you haven't yet, please sign our petition.
OPD Spearheads Pilot Program Bringing Municipal Court to the New Orleans Mission
New Orleans – On Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 10 a.m., the Orleans Public Defenders, in collaboration with Orleans Parish Municipal Court, the City Attorney’s office and the New Orleans Mission, will launch the Municipal Court at the Mission pilot program. Judge Sean Early will hold court at the New Orleans Mission in the hopes of clearing the nearly 34,000 open attachments in Municipal Court, as well as address the issue of incarcerating the homeless head on.
Of the tens of thousands of attachments outstanding, the vast majority are issued to homeless, mentally-ill or those battling substance abuse issues whose living environments are usually unstable. Once someone misses a court date, a warrant is issued and upon arrest, most spend weeks in jail simply because they can’t pay the associated fine.
OPD Launches Crowdfunding Campaign to Meet Funding Gap
Faced with a nearly $1 million budget shortfall, the Orleans Public Defenders once again is in crisis and Constitutionally-required legal representation in New Orleans is again in jeopardy due to decreased revenue and budget shortfalls. To this end, OPD launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $50,000 in five days. The campaign kicked off Monday, September 14 and will go through Friday, September 18.
Donate here: www.opdla.causevox.com.
The Struggle is Now is our cry for help. Help our defenders. Help our clients.Help our community. Help us continue our critical work to ensure a fair and just New Orleans.
Every little bit helps. Donate. Spread the word. Together we can continue our mission. Together we can ensure no one faces the criminal justice system alone.
