Task Force Priorities Survey
Show for the following positions: All Positions Advocacy Non-profit Organization Citizen Constitutional County Judge Court or County Employee Defense Attorney District Judge Financial Officer Justice of the Peace Other Prosecutor Statutory County Judge
Number of Surveys Attempted: 325
A higher number indicates more importance: (3-High priority, 2-Medium priority, 1-Low priority)
Question	Average
Performance standards for counsel appointed to represent indigent defendants.	2.38
Caseload standards for ensuring appropriate workload for counsel appointed to represent indigent defendants.	2.00
Standard of indigency to determine whether a person accused of a crime or juvenile offense is too poor to hire counsel.	2.25
Policies and standards governing the organization and operation of an ad hoc assigned counsel program.	1.72
Policies and standards governing the organization and operation of a public defender office consistent with recognized national policies and standards.	1.82
Standards for providing indigent defense services under a contract defender program consistent with recognized national policies and standards.	1.86
Standards governing the reasonable compensation of counsel appointed to represent indigent defendants.	2.57
Standards governing the availability and reasonable compensation of providers of indigent defense support services for counsel appointed to represent indigent defendants.	2.41
Standards governing the operation of a legal clinic or program that provides legal services to indigent defendants and is sponsored by a law school approved by the supreme court.	1.67
Policies and standards governing the appointment of attorneys to represent children in proceedings under Title 3, Family Code.	2.17
Qualification standards under which attorneys may qualify for appointment to represent indigent defendants.	2.34
Qualifications appropriate for representation of mentally ill defendants	2.32
Qualifications appropriate for representation of noncitizen defendants	2.11
Qualifications appropriate for representation of defendants in death penalty cases	2.60
Attorney testing and certification standards.	1.98
Other Priority (please specify):
Money for expert witnesses [Defense Attorney]	3
Educating,training county commissioners to use their authority over the courts [Defense Attorney]	2
We need some way of checking defendants application for court appointed attorney [Constitutional County Judge]	3
Standards for the appointment of counsel in a TIMELY manner [Defense Attorney]	3
Billingualism [Defense Attorney]	2
Quality court appointed representaion must be adequately funded [Defense Attorney]	3
Assurence that fee applications will not be unreasonably reduced by trial courts [Defense Attorney]	3
Compliance, mandatory education in sentencing, and collateral consequence, i.e. immigration and parole [Other]	3
Having the appointed attorney stay in contact with his client after being appointed and having made first contract. [Other]	3
develop easily accessible, inexpensive cle to help maintain skills in juvenile law [District Judge]	3
none [Constitutional County Judge]	1
Standards for determing when a county should be required to construct a seperate drug court for thier jurisdiction. [Defense Attorney]	3
Ensuring availability of experts and other forms of testing (DNA, ballistics, etc.) []	2
indigency determinations and information gathering [District Judge]	3
The Law Enforcement End. I would like to see standards on how they handle defendants before and after they are magistrated. There is no deadline to transfer to County. [Other]	3
insure that trial court has the discretion to match the skill level of the attorney with the complexity of the case [District Judge]	3
Procedures for Mentally Handicaooed Defendants [District Judge]	3
Emphasize stricter guidelines for determining indigency. Taxpayers should not be giving free lawyers to all defendants. Many can actually afford representation if making time payments. [Financial Officer]	3
n/a [Financial Officer]	-
Simpler standards for low income counties where one major case can break a county [Constitutional County Judge]	3
Tying level of appointed counsel compensation to the pro rata pay rate of district judges, plus a percentage of that pay rate for general overhead. [Defense Attorney]	3
increase salaries for public defenders and court-appointed fees [Defense Attorney]	3
Contiuned authority to exercise judicial discretion in the appointment process [District Judge]	3
The Task Force shoud identify lawyers who have performed poorly (below acceptable standards) and submit them to the State Bar for discipline [Other]	3
Availability of State funding resources. [Court or County Employee]	3
N/A [Prosecutor]	2
Standards stating required work before a plea may be taken in a misdemeanor case [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]	3
Standards stating required work before a plea may be taken in a misdemeanor case [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]	3
surveying whether persons are being advised of their right to counsel if indigent when coming to court after being released on bond and having a system to make this determination [Defense Attorney]	3
Qualifications appropriate for representation of defendants in SVP Civil Commitments [Other]	2
Standards to regulate uncounseled guilty pleas [Other]	3
getting funding to pay attorneys [Defense Attorney]	3
Mentoring program for new attorneys accepting court appointments [Defense Attorney]	2
Mentoring program for new attorneys accepting court appointments [Defense Attorney]	2
Policies re interactions with unrepresented defendants and proper procedures for eliciting counsel waivers [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]	3
Insure appropriate support staff and funds for indigent defenders [Defense Attorney]	3
Different treatment of cases / defendants where counsel has been appt. - ie - fee recovery efforts by judges that produce policies prejudicial to indigents who have obtained Ct. Appt. attorney [Defense Attorney]	-
More Money [District Judge]	3
Number of people with low level charges who are found indigent but post bond [Defense Attorney]	1
Changing the appointment system to take it out of Trial Judge's hands. [Defense Attorney]	3
Compensation for Title 3, Family Law - Cases including Termination of Parents [Defense Attorney]	3
Standards for appellate/writ counsel [Prosecutor]	3
Honesty and integrity of attorneys in general. [Citizen]	1
What can the Task Force do to assist courts within your jurisdiction to improve their indigent defense systems?
I DO NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO FILL THIS OUT SINCE I DO NOT HAVE INVOLVEMENT IN ANY EXCEPT TO PAY WHAT THE JUDGES PRESENT TO ME. [Financial Officer]
Unfortunately, the answer is the age old one of more money. Logically, the state should shoulder the burden, but practically, it will be the counties who have to pick up any slack. I don't believe the counties in this state should have this responsibility. [District Judge]
More assistance with funding. [District Judge]
Standards cannot and should not be the same in Urban areas and rural areas with respect to the appointment of counsel. In my rural area, attorneys have chosen not to be on the indigent defense list. The law should allow a judge to place qualified attorneys on the list, as we did in the past. Furthermore, the law should be changed to allow adequate compensation for attorneys. Our plan reduced payment of fees to $55 per hour. Federal courts pay around $125 per hour. [Statutory County Judge]
Make sure that we can get the experts needed to counter State's Experts. Not fair when they get one and we're told that we can't have one too. [Defense Attorney]
convince them to compensate appointed counsel adequately according to time spent both in court and in preparation of the case, regardless of the final disposition. [Defense Attorney]
All of these questions would be better addressed to the judges. [Financial Officer]
The misdemeanor judge(s) should not be encouraging prosecutors to speak directly with unrepresented defendants and make "plea" agreements. [Defense Attorney]
Help pass laws providing more financial assistance for cases involving indigent clients, including attorney compensation and resources for hiring expert witnesses, etc.... [Defense Attorney]
convince them: (1)that's what taxpayers want,(2)it improves crim.justice system as a whole,(3)having to follow Statewide standards takes pressure off individual judges always worried about voters thinking they are soft on crime,(4)get yourselves invited to participate in judges' training, beginning with the baby judges' course,(5)tie money to performance. [Defense Attorney]
Provide funds for additonal manpower. [Other]
merely by addressing these issues in a fair and full fashion would accomplish a great deal [Defense Attorney]
Streamline the annual application [Constitutional County Judge]
Ours seems to be working well. [Financial Officer]
encourage higher pay for appointed counsel; especially incentive to confer with their client early on. [Prosecutor]
promulgate some standards or training guidelines for those attorney's who meet the requirements to get appointments but whose personal communication skills are such that they have serious problems in communicating with the indigent defendant or the DA. [District Judge]
Educate them! [Defense Attorney]
Set standards for the appointment of attorney on basis of nuetral standards to stop the appointments based on favors or election assistance. [Defense Attorney]
In Harris County, force them to follow the FDA. [Defense Attorney]
Fix the Dallas County AIS system, and get the defense bar ONLINE! There is so much information that we need that we no longer can access (bonding companies, etc.) [Defense Attorney]
help the courts understand that indigent defense is not a burden [Court or County Employee]
Funding for better pay for attorneys [District Judge]
Publish Regional Expert Witness services. (ie: find local phd's willing to work for ct. appt.) Establish an indigent defense resource web site / listserve, so that counsel can share info on par with TDCAA. [Defense Attorney]
The task force should enoucrage counties to require each defense attorney to handle at least one case a year. Many defense attorneys feel that they "can't afford" to take court appointments. That is often the seasoned atorneys who have the required skills that wouldn't otherwise be available to indigent defendants. [Defense Attorney]
Assist in funding [Defense Attorney]
Provide for adequate funding and the assistance of experts and investigators. [Defense Attorney]
maybe establish a mandatory time period for the attorney to establish a direct face to face contact with his client. [District Judge]
An indigency standard would be the most helpful. [Court or County Employee]
Tarrant County has a TF in place working on different approaches to streamline the court's case load, reduce time for trials, minimize people detained in the county jail or the setting of reasonable bonds, setting standards for appointed counsel to receive and carry out their functions as an advocate. [Defense Attorney]
Require the use of standardized forms for Attorney reimbursement payments. [Court or County Employee]
Secure more funding from the State to alleviate the expense to the counties. [District Judge]
compliance [Other]
Explain when adversarial proceedings begin on felony cases. Is it at time of arrest or is it when an indictment has been filed? If a defendant is on bond on an unindicted felony and requests a court appointed attorney, do we have to appoint attorney if the defendant appears to be indigent? [Court or County Employee]
Impose limits on the number of appointed cases attorneys can take. In Smith County, each of the three district courts have three attorneys on a contract to provide all indigent defense for that court, including appeals. Each of the attorneys is responsible for a huge volume of cases with the net effect of overworked atorneys who receive 20+ new felonies each month. [Defense Attorney]
For the defendants that have made bail and have received notice of their first appearance, have in that notice if they should need a court appointed attorney to have the application of indigency completed and ready to process before first appearance. [Other]
provide incentives for lawyers to accept appointment, quit changing standards so often, raise pay standards & provide money to cash strapped counties, provide a more reasonable window before appointment required to allow proper proesecutorial screening - currently over 50 percent of felony cases are dismissed without indictment. Most judges do not appoint unqualified lawyers and are quite capable of managing atttorney qualifications. Testng of counsel is unnecessary and insulting and might be the final blow to keepng well qualified and experienced attorneyswilling to accept appointment in my three counties. I also need money to allow attorney-client contact without unnecessary travel, particularly early before formal charges & discovery require contact in person. [District Judge]
Nothing [Other]
This is a small jurisdiction and we have no problems with the indigent defense program as it is. [Constitutional County Judge]
assist in securing funding for representation of indigent defendants in Bexar County. [Defense Attorney]
At this time none [Constitutional County Judge]
send more state money to local government [Constitutional County Judge]
The Task Force could assist our courts (East Texas, Smith County) by providing information or conducting an investigation into the amount of bonds that are being set in Texas for each of the counties in Texas. The information could be used to reveal that our courts are setting bonds far above the amount required to compel a defendant's apperance in our jurisdiction. Our defendants are able to make bond, but have no funds available to retain an attorney. Therefore, the Courts are being forced to appoint counsel to a greated number of defendants that could otherwise retain counsel. [Defense Attorney]
Come up with a common plan, bu also allow for some flexibility based on the individual circumstances in each case. []
Provide adequate funding so that appointed attorneys can afford to spend as much time as needed on each case without subsidizing the system at greater burden to themselves. Exempt indigent defenders from all but gross negligence in legal malpractice claims. [Prosecutor]
Assess and establish a state-wide [illegibile fax] ...agency law and adopt the federal guidelines for bonding defendants out of jail. [Constitutional County Judge]
Stay out of our business. [Constitutional County Judge]
Make it possible to opt out of SB7 on a county by county basis. [Constitutional County Judge]
Request the Courts insure that D.A.'s offices fairly and responsibly [sic] [Defense Attorney]
determine when a person is considered indegent and what proof the court should ask from the defendant regarding proof of income. If they claim no income, how does the court deterime that is correct? [Constitutional County Judge]
Make sure attorneys aren't forced to take too many cases. []
Assist us in developing a centralized magistration system and in developing a means of gathering financial information on defendants requesting appointed counsel. [District Judge]
Need to develop a clearinghouse of qualified forensics experts in various areas; need money for these experts, especially when insufficient or nonexistent local ones. [Defense Attorney]
Mental Health is a really big issue in our County. Any guidance is appreciated. [Other]
Better compensation. Many qualified attorneys do not take indigent cases because of the great disparity of pay between paying clients and indigent defendants. This is exacerbated by taking an indigent case to trial as the time spent on preparation is time taken away from more profitable clients. [Defense Attorney]
Convince the legislature that if they want to run the system, they should raise taxes to pay for it. [Other]
Provide more funds from the state [Other]
Information sharing [Other]
Send more money ASAP [Other]
Recognize that rural counties indigent defense plans of necessity differ from plans of urban areas. [Other]
Continue your brainstorming. You are doing an excellent job. [Other]
Provide more money so rural counties may expand pool of attorneys and pay the excess costs. [Other]
Provide guidance on how to get attorneys off the appointment list who are chronically low performers, overbillers, or don't keep in contact with their clients. []
Leave us alone so we can do the job we did before SB7, i.e. appoint attorneys who we know could handle cases without bureaucratic ovresight. [Other]
Emphasize the greatest safeguard a defendant has is the trial courts judgment in providing appropriate defense counsel. [Other]
Give us money to pay for them. [Constitutional County Judge]
Help to educate commissioners with regard to the cost effectiveness of paying reasonable compensation to attract and retain top quality attorneys on the court appointment rotation (ie. fewer appeals, fewer trials of meritless cases, fewer resets of cases with attendant waste of court, clerk, and DA resources, etc.). [Statutory County Judge]
? [Constitutional County Judge]
Remove misdemeanors from the act and increase the time allotted for appointments [Constitutional County Judge]
Fund all indigent defense attorneys. [Statutory County Judge]
Mental Health is a ready big issue in our county. Any guidance is appreciated. [Financial Officer]
Help fund indigence coordinator. [District Judge]
We have too many defendants and not enough lawyers to do the complex cases. I need more money to keep the good lawyers on board and discretion to match the tough case with qualified counsel. [District Judge]
Convince them that the only way to assure comeptent representation is to provide adequate compensation. [Defense Attorney]
Eliminate fee schedules which are not based on the amount of time reasonably required to complete a task (e.g., fixed fees for a particular means of handling the case). [Prosecutor]
Realize that not every county operates like Harris or Dallas or Tarrant or Travis or Bexar Counties. We have an excellent system in Brazos County with highly-qualified attorneys who have no problems representing indigent defendants in all cases with little or no complaints. We simply do not have the problems complained of or heard about when you hear from the big counties and giant metropolises. Just don't paint everybody with the same broad brush. [Statutory County Judge]
The additional funding through the indigent defense system has been a large help. Any possible increase in funding for rural, low population districts would assist in getting the compensation levels to a more realistic defense payment. [Financial Officer]
Take the politics out of the appointment process by limiting severely the ability of the presiding judge to select defense counsel of their own choosing. [Defense Attorney]
Assist with adequate funding. [District Judge]
Keep up funding assistance. [Constitutional County Judge]
Secure state funding for court appointed counsel. [District Judge]
Reagan County is very small and remote; therefore, attorneys must travel over 60 miles to get here. I wish there were more strick rules on determining if the defendant is indigent. [Financial Officer]
Create a better funding program for public defenders. [Constitutional County Judge]
Make them pay us at least enough to cover our overhead! [Defense Attorney]
Provide more funds for payment of court appointed attorneys. Video conferencing from magistrate/indigent defense coordinator/defendant. [District Judge]
Basically, the attorneys need to be paid for the quality of their services. [Financial Officer]
TRUST US TO DO OUR JOBS IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE ACT AND REQUIRE LESS PAPER WORK FROM US. WE HAVE LITTLE TIME AS IS TO KEEP UP WIHT INDIGENTS WITHOUT HAVING PEOPLE LOOK OVER OUR SHOULDERS AND NIT PICK. [Statutory County Judge]
Help set guidelines as to what constitutes "prompt" access to courts for purposes of court hearings, especially those involving requests for reduced or personal bonds. [Defense Attorney]
Too many people get court appointed counsel without any sort of screening process that I can tell. It seems that if you fill out a pauper's oath (truthful or not) you get a lawyer. Many people can afford counsel is they were willing to sacrifice something (beer, cigarettes, eating out). Just too easy to get a court appointed lawyer. [Defense Attorney]
Assist with cost, especially capital murder cases - Judge Richard Beacom [District Judge]
Mandate judicial education on the reality of ad valorem tax based system required to pay for indigent defense. Counties simply cannot afford to be dipping into taxpayers pockets for this nonsense. If the legal system were less complicated by inconsistent judicial opinions and "legislators gone wild," defendants would also have less need for counsel in the first place. [Financial Officer]
Do not try to mandate complicated systems for small counties (under 150,000 population) [District Judge]
n/a [Financial Officer]
See above. I am a one man operation without a sophisticated records keeping system and without staff. I do not need a process that requires a Phd to complete and comply with. [Constitutional County Judge]
set standards for attorneys and see that the judges enforce them. [Financial Officer]
Fund the additional costs incurred. [Constitutional County Judge]
Promulgate guidelines [Statutory County Judge]
continue education of courts [Constitutional County Judge]
Our base year was not a normal year for our county, it was an excessive year. Therefore Cochran County has not benefited from the Indigent Defende program. We have not received any funds and it looks like we never will share the benefit of this program. [Constitutional County Judge]
1.Defendants are being told if they make bond they do not qualify for a court appointed attorney. A client who spends his last few dollars bonding out or borrows the money must pay for a substandard hired attorney because he can't afford a decent defense and is not given the opportunity to qualify for court appointed counsel. 2. Defendants are often told if they do not make bond they will most likely not be given probation while a defendant with money who can afford a bond can avoid a final conviction on his record by taking deferred. I [Defense Attorney]
We can be paid more than $200 to handle a case. Regardless of what we submit, we receive $200 in virtually every case, unless we try it to a jury [Defense Attorney]
gain more funding [Defense Attorney]
Pay remains a priority. That said, tie appointed lawyer pay to judge's pay. Set up a system that would allow an appointed lawyer who put in 2,000 appointed hours in a year to clear the same net pay as a district judge. That system would allow practitioners to treat retained and appointed cases alike. They would know that if the judge made 100 thou in a year, and if they worked on appointed business full time in a year, they would also make 100 thou. [Defense Attorney]
Make sure judges pay court appointed attorneys based on actual time. Additionally, attorneys should be compensated for copying costs and mileage. [Defense Attorney]
create standardized critera for definition of indigency [Defense Attorney]
Keep us abreast of all new ideas that are improving other county systems [Financial Officer]
Streamline some of the paperwork required. Sometimes I find myself bogged down in too much paper work and reports, not leaving enough time to efficiently handle the appointments. I am the Court Coordinator as well as the Counsel Coordinator. [Court or County Employee]
Besides the obvious (more state and/or federal money) developing resources to allow for development of an inquirey system as to whether or not an individual is indigent. [Other]
simplify paper work [Statutory County Judge]
I started completing the form. I did not finish. I can better answer your questions this way: It is best for the system if we demand the highest standards in all matters pertinent to indigent defendants. It can more easily be accomplished (highest standards) if we have enough money to pay lawyers and a good education program to train them. We should also provide support -- equivalent to support given prosecutors--if we want to do it right. Dan R. Beck, District Judge, 155th Judicial District [District Judge]
Continue to provide grant support for innovative programs to improve indigent defense. Continue to provide formula grants to offset the increase in indigent defense costs. [Court or County Employee]
Have a committee (consisting of experienced attorneys and/or judges) oversee the indigent defense system locally. [Defense Attorney]
To provide more money [Financial Officer]
We need more state funds for indigent defense counsel-Counties can only spend limited funds for indigent counsel [Constitutional County Judge]
n/a [Other]
Provide more resources of funding. [Court or County Employee]
A mechanism by which there is some subjective review of atty qualifications. Too often an atty will have the requisite number of trials, years of practice, and other objective requirments, yet is a terrible atty. Everyone at the courthouse knows this and would not hire him or her to represent their cat in a traffic case . . . yet these people are "qualified" under the objective stds. There needs to be peer review of some manner or another. [District Judge]
Keep the idiot defense attorneys out of my office! :-) [Prosecutor]
(1) set a fair formula for distributing formula grant funds; (2) ensure that local questions are addressed by the Task Force or by other resources; (3) publish best practices existing in Texas; (4) become more active in setting minimum policies and standards; (5) publish studies to help counties understand how bail policies impact indigent defense costs, how to use civil alternatives to incarceration for people with serious mental disabilities, and strategies for rural counties; (6) convene a focused biennial state conference; (7) enforce the law as below. [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
(1) set a fair formula for distributing formula grant funds; (2) ensure that local questions are addressed by the Task Force or by other resources; (3) publish best practices existing in Texas; (4) become more active in setting minimum policies and standards; (5) publish studies to help counties understand how bail policies impact indigent defense costs, how to use civil alternatives to incarceration for people with serious mental disabilities, and strategies for rural counties; (6) convene a focused biennial state conference; (7) enforce the law as below. [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
Funding assistance from state, provide options legislatively other than as mandated. e.g. Harris County contract defense attorney program. [District Judge]
insist that they follow the law for advising persons who appear before them at their first court hearing of the court of jurisdiction, not the original court of magistration , of their right to counsel, and creating a system to assit them in filling our the request and the Judge in making the determination..This should be monitored with asistance and sugestions on how to accomplish this. Money should not be given to jurisidctions that do not that do not follow the law, such as allowing the prosecutor to call the docket or give the advice about pleading without counsel. This should be monitored and help given. People are being told to get at attorney without advising them and giving them forms to prepare with little help if released on bond. This causes them to loose jobs, it is not the law. Just because you have a job does not mean you can hire an attorney. [Defense Attorney]
Assist in developing protocols for performance review assessments to complement current testing and certification. Address post conviction [habeas] standards. [Other]
Establish mechanisms for enforcement of performance standards for assigned counsel. [Citizen]
Provide on-site training. [Financial Officer]
Allotment of more funds to reimburse the Counties. []
Provide more funding [District Judge]
Expose judiciary, attorneys, commissioners, prosecutors, and Task Force members to modern indigent defense procedures used by model local and state indigent defense systems within and outside of Texas. Because, there are few truly model systems within Texas, it would be very helpful for stateholders in Texas to be able to evaluate systems in other states that provide high quality services efficiently and effectively. [Other]
get them funding to pay the attorneys willing to take these cases [Defense Attorney]
Advocate to have more money available for experts and investigators. [Defense Attorney]
would like to see a plan or know feasibility of a public defender or contract defender ia a medium sized court [District Judge]
Implement a Best Practices such as is followed in the corporate world or in large firms for the courts or county commissioners to follow. [Defense Attorney]
Provide stronger leadership for counties seeking to improve their systems, and meaningful guidance on legal requirements and best practices. Although the Task Force has acted on a limited number of policy issues over the past years, on many of the more complicated issues it seems like the Task Force has been reluctant to get out in front of counties' and judges' starting positions. The Task Force has not capitalized on its capacity to shape and build consensus, which cannot be done without a little more pushing and prodding than the Task Force has seemed willing to do so far. [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
Provide support for attorneys resisting the push by District Court's to simply plead cases to raise the "stats" for the Court or to lower the docket numbers. [Defense Attorney]
Look into the pay of the misdemenaor cases in Bexar County. Currently, it is $100.00 for a plea nd you have to have permission to itmeize over $100.00. [Defense Attorney]
Address that some judges appoint their "friends" or those they owe favors to and these individuals are not competent []
Ensure Effective Assistance of Counsel [Prosecutor]
[Defense Attorney]
education [Defense Attorney]
Familiarize the District Court and County Court Judges with the basic principals outlined in Senate Bill 7. [Defense Attorney]
Develop funding sources through laws allowing court cost ad-ons such as for judicial education. Tie/link legal defense funding to road and bridge funding:the more roads,bridges,asphault a,d earth moving equipment,the more legal defense funding. [Defense Attorney]
Lobby the Legislature to establish a statewide public defender agency with authority to administer a system of public defender offices. [Defense Attorney]
Help them recognize the need to approve requests for expenditure of funds to investigate cases. [Defense Attorney]
A standarad as to time required to represent client. The "flat fee" is not adequet. [Defense Attorney]
set standards and communicate their importance to the courts [Defense Attorney]
Periodic reviews of indigency status. Make sure the courts willing to reimburse for essential duties truly indigenet, including collect calls from jail and reasonable time spent communicating with family members. Many courts do not consider such work necessary, but it certainly is for the lawyer who wants to keep report with the client and avoid greivance. [Defense Attorney]
Additional CLE as to proper methods of handling a case and keeping current on law changes. [Defense Attorney]
Standards or guidelines for Compensation for appointments to family law cases. [Defense Attorney]
First, MONEY. Second, I feel our compliance is just fine. I believe the Task Force should direct attention to developing standards and policies regarding law enforcements' compliance with timely filing reports for 15.17 and reports for timely filing of cases, and remedies the courts can and should have for delays in the filing of reports. []
Based on your statewide evaluations, provide copies of best practices or best programs to all counties. [Court or County Employee]
$ for fees [Defense Attorney]
Hold classes/seminars training sessions for Judges and Staff [Court or County Employee]
Make it open to qualified attorneys. It appears to me that Harris County is presently on a closed clique system among the judges and a very few favored local attorneys. The people of Harris County deserve more than that. [Defense Attorney]
require courts to not deny counsel simply because someone is on bond. []
I am involved in the financial reporting aspect of indigent defense. The County and District Judges handle the rest. I am sure we have plenty of citizens who benefit from the indigent defense programs but I am not certain our county is actively trying to better our services. I believe we are just providing the minimum required. It's not cost beneficial for our county to pursue more due to our limited activities. We pretty much follow other's leads. But again, this is an area I have limited knowledge. Hopefully, our County Judge has provided a confident answer to your survey. [Financial Officer]
Nothing different at this time [Statutory County Judge]
Encourage standards to facilitate efficient contact with in custody defendants. [Defense Attorney]
Make the Texas State Bar do their job and take action against attorneys who ignore their clients and do not see them in court but twice in a 6 month period. It does no good to file a grievance against an attorney in Texas unless there are 5-6 different people filing the grievance. What an injustice and disgrace our Texas State Bar is by lacking to do what is right!! [Citizen]
What can the Task Force do to promote compliance by courts within your jurisdiction with the requirements of state law relating to indigent defense?
Find a source of funds other than the counties in the district. [District Judge]
More assistance with funding. [District Judge]
I am not aware of any non compliance. [Statutory County Judge]
For the most part, our courts (Ellis County) are complying. The biggest problem seems to be the occasional delay in getting an affidavit of indigency to the detainee and then getting it forwarded to the proper court. [Defense Attorney]
Tie in reimbursement funds more closely to audit results, or to timely corrections of deficiencies. Offer grants to compliant courts. Do local surveys with focus groups, exploring the public's perceptions re equal justice, and what average voter would like to see. [Defense Attorney]
Cooperation from the District Attorney's Office would be foremost. [Other]
setting standards and published them would be a good first start [Defense Attorney]
none [Constitutional County Judge]
encourage better pay to encourage attorneys to spend enough time with their clients early on [Prosecutor]
We have excellent compliance in our County. [District Judge]
Set up some kind of forum for alerting the Task Force to the ignorance, as to what "indigent" and "effective representation" means, of the judges. [Defense Attorney]
More oversight. [Defense Attorney]
Provide penaltiies enforcible against the DA's office and judges. [Defense Attorney]
Setting the standard for caseloads is a must. Especially contract workers and public defenders. We are often swamped with cases. The judges view us as a way to move cases, and often frown on appointed attorneys taking time on a case for, like, say, a motion to suppress, or a trial. They often set them far off enough that a lot of clients plea because they're offered less time than the time it would take to get to trial. There should be a method where the clients shouldn't half to wait in jail that long, just because they have no money. [Defense Attorney]
work on establishing guidelines for compensation of counsel and support services [Court or County Employee]
Require counsel to strictly document time and expenses, and require courts to pay. Judge shouldn't say " You get an investigator, but only $200 for it" ... that's not enough. [Defense Attorney]
Provide state funding for the appointed attorneys. [Prosecutor]
Hold judges accountable for appointing incompetent counsel [Defense Attorney]
Judges too often belive they are paying court appointed counsel from their own pockets and do not adequately understand the reality of economics of running a law pratice. [Defense Attorney]
n/a [Court or County Employee]
Stay out of the way. Let the personnel at the county level work the problems, they are the most familiar with them; too many hands in the pie... [Defense Attorney]
compliance [Other]
Check the submitted indigent defense plans for each county to verify that all courts in each county have a current plan. [Court or County Employee]
Force the district courts away from the contract system, to a wheel system with adequate compensation. [Defense Attorney]
Have it shown in court records where/when the first contact was made with his client. [Other]
nothing required [District Judge]
Nothing [Other]
Everything appears to be working fine at the present time and we appreciate the assistance of the indigent defense program. [Constitutional County Judge]
none [Constitutional County Judge]
send more state money to local government [Constitutional County Judge]
Educate the judges. []
Make a law. [Prosecutor]
Address the need of truly indigent people versus those who simply want a free lawyer. [Constitutional County Judge]
I don't think it's a problem in Tarrant County. [Constitutional County Judge]
Same as above or help amend at least the time requirements under SB7 [Constitutional County Judge]
Hold their feet to the fire on developing a public defender system unless they improve the current system [Defense Attorney]
On-site training session conducted by Task Force personnel such as the on-sight monitoring visit. [Court or County Employee]
Sanction judges who fail to comply? []
We are in compliance with state law. [District Judge]
Threatening to cut funding to the counties doesn't help because Commissioners do not feel they can take on the judges. But making _State_ funding for these courts, including judges' salaries, contingent on their compliance with the law. Continue bombarding judges with training on thre requirements of the Fair Defense Act, and with real consequences, focus on the benefits -- incorporate into the baby judges' training seminars, and thereafter. [Defense Attorney]
Require detailed reports and statistics relating to indigent defense to the Legislature. [Defense Attorney]
Take our money away. To do that you would have to pay us enough that we would care. [Other]
Keep things simple [Other]
Education [Other]
Provide its own oversight to the end that independent groups need not feel compelled to issue reports slanted toward their private agendas. [Other]
Same as above. [Other]
There are many who believe that the only improvement since SB7 is that defense counsel is better compensated. Questions about quality continue to exist. Perhaps additional CLE at little or no cost to attorneys on indigent defense lists would be helpful. [Other]
Work _directly_ with the counties regarding plan deficiencies. [Other]
Send more $ to counties who comply. Catch those flies with honey -- not vinegar. []
See above. [Other]
Nothing. Our jurisdiction only has three courts handling cases that carry incarceration as a possible punishment. Two, State District Courts. One full-time and one part-time in Chambers County and one Constitutional Court Court handling misdemeanors and juveniles. [District Judge]
Have the _Courts_ make and enforce rules of appointing appropriate counsel and see that counsel is paid. [Other]
? [Constitutional County Judge]
I believe we comply [Constitutional County Judge]
I know of no courts that are not presently providing indigent attorneys when the accused is truly indigent. [Statutory County Judge]
We feel our courts are in compliance. [District Judge]
Have general standards and much discretion vested in the trial judge to make sure each and every defendant is zealouly represented. [District Judge]
Actually do something to judges who cut vouchers, encourgage pleas by appointing known deadwood and/or sycophants, and who force otherwise diligent counsel to try cases on a shoestring budget because they consider themselves the self-appointed "Guardian of the Exchequer." [Defense Attorney]
The courts in my jurisdiction seem to be studious in meeting the requirements of the law- other than requiring appellate counsel to timely prepare and file a brief. I am uncertain how this problem could be solved except to encourage the court to remove counsel based on art. 26.04(b)(5) or (e)(1)(A)(ii). [Prosecutor]
????? [Statutory County Judge]
To my knowledge, the three courts within our jurisdiction are all in compliance with the requirements of state law relating to indigent defense. [Financial Officer]
Start monitoring the courts and judges to see if certain defense attorneys are getting a disproportionate share of appointments. [Defense Attorney]
The Courts within my jurisdiction are compliant with state law relating to indigent defense and need little or no assist from the Task Force to assure compliance. [District Judge]
Not sure what they can or cannot do. [Constitutional County Judge]
n/a [Constitutional County Judge]
Same [Defense Attorney]
Ensuring the indigency of the defendants. [Financial Officer]
Provide money and streamline reporting. [Constitutional County Judge]
Institute a system of rewards and sanctions using indigent funding as a tool to help compliance. [Defense Attorney]
Continue education to all Judges not just those that are managing the indigent programs. [Statutory County Judge]
Do not try to mandate complicated systems for small counties (under 150,000 population) Judge Joe Leonard [District Judge]
Make "senior" and "visiting" judges deduct some of this expense from their enormous salaries for a while. Perhaps they would think twice about subsiding the practices of lawyers they are appointing. [Financial Officer]
n/a [Financial Officer]
We are complying. We have limited activity. [Constitutional County Judge]
education of judges on importance of qualified attorneys representing indigents [Financial Officer]
Educate the defense bar on the requirements established by the Task Force. The systems are in place for the Courts but too many of the lawyers have not been educated on the rules for seeing their clients timely. They do not need to be tought to practice law but they do not seem to understand all the red tape and how their actions reflect on the plan adopted by the County. [Constitutional County Judge]
Promulgate guidelines Random evaluations [Statutory County Judge]
Continue education programs for courts [Constitutional County Judge]
I believe you have a good program and it is working. [Constitutional County Judge]
Cases are still being given to those attorneys willing to plead them out the quickest and friends or former collegues of the Judge. The system was designed to randomly pull the next available attorney from the list but Judges and coordinators have found a way to circumvent this. I would like to see a system in place where Attorneys qualified to take the indigent cases are assigned without any input from the court. [Defense Attorney]
I wish I knew... We are giving them a pay raise and they are trying to starve us out of the criminal defense business. [Defense Attorney]
require retention or assignment of counsel to all misdemeanor cases before the defendant has any contact with a judge or a prosecutor [Defense Attorney]
Pay. Pay. Pay is the issue above all else. Sad to say, it economically drives the ability of counsel to carry a reasonable caseload including a number of appointed cases and still render good service while making a respectable living. [Defense Attorney]
Make it mandatory for attorneys who take court appointed work to fill out a brief survey regarding compensation. For example, I have received as low as $17.00/hour in a court appointed case and that was after I appealed and was awarded an extra $1000.00 for the many hours of service I provided to my client. In such a case, the judge should be reprimanded for his display of favoritism and his display of a lack of respect for attorneys who are willing to put in the work for an indigent client. [Defense Attorney]
It is a simple -- no cost solution to specifically set out within the Fair Defense Act that it applies to all attorneys who represent indigent TDCJ incarcerated inmates -- including the public defender arm of the TDCJ-- State Counsel For Offenders. There have been thousands of inmates who faced every level of loss of liberty, including death. The Texas Board of Criminal Justice takes no active role in the defense of inmates and the TDCJ Executive director's focus is not on inmate defense. [Other]
threaten to cut state funding to the county [Defense Attorney]
n/a [Financial Officer]
We have a district judge that thinks he is above any of your requirements and will handle appointments in his court however he wishes. I don't know what you can do about that. [Court or County Employee]
Just keep tweeking the current standards and insuring that the courts are following them. [Other]
reward compliance [Statutory County Judge]
A monitor from the Task Force came and evaluated our program this past year. This was helpful in evaluating changes that needed to be made and confirming the successes in Tarrant County. [Court or County Employee]
Our courts including magistrates have been extremely dedicated to complying with the mandates and spirit of the indigent defense act and nothing additional is needed in this regard. [District Judge]
give us good guile lines to follow [Constitutional County Judge]
n/a [Other]
Not applicable. [Court or County Employee]
Make the system of who gets appt to which case truly fair (it's still not). [Prosecutor]
(1) as a grant condition, require every county plan to be reviewed and found in full compliance with all FDA requirements; (2) randomly monitor actual practices in a few counties each year, and deny grant funding to any county that is found not to substantially comply with its own plan and also refuses to correct problems upon receiving technical advice; (3) deduct monitoring/enforcement costs from grants counties with compliance problems; (4) maximize support for public defender offices; (5) establish regional expert panels to improve information available to stakeholders and the Task Force. [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
(1) as a grant condition, require every county plan to be reviewed and found in full compliance with all FDA requirements; (2) randomly monitor actual practices in a few counties each year, and deny grant funding to any county that is found not to substantially comply with its own plan and also refuses to correct problems upon receiving technical advice; (3) deduct monitoring/enforcement costs from grants counties with compliance problems; (4) maximize support for public defender offices; (5) establish regional expert panels to improve information available to stakeholders and the Task Force. [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
Standardize qualifications for appointment and determination of indigency status [District Judge]
Money should be given only if their is compliance with the law. Random samples of jurisdictions complaince should be gathered and Judges should be required to report what they do when people come to court withotu at atty and on bond. Advice and ideas should be given to assist those that are not in compliance. If necessary, an opiniion should be requested from the Judicial Conduct group on whether this is a violation of the code of conduct in situations described. [Defense Attorney]
Education with mailings and publications [District Judge]
Continue to offer financial incentives for innovative delivery systems. Study and recommend whether County can have both rotation and contract systems at the election of individual judges and still satisfy "county plan" requirements. Publicize "rankings" of counties by compliance, innovation, etc., so that our jurisdiction can see what is happening in other counties. [Other]
Same [Citizen]
N/A to this office [Financial Officer]
we comply [District Judge]
Expose judiciary, attorneys, commissioners, prosecutors, and Task Force members to modern indigent defense procedures used by model local and state indigent defense systems within and outside of Texas. Because, there are few truly model systems within Texas, it would be very helpful for stateholders in Texas to be able to evaluate systems in other states that provide high quality services efficiently and effectively. [Other]
judicial accountability through sanctions [Defense Attorney]
Advise judges who are not complying then file judicial complaints [Defense Attorney]
Building on my response to the previous question, I think counties are looking for, or at the very least are open to, guidance on compliance issues, but need some leadership and possibly even some political cover before they take the next step forward. I also believe the Task Force should consider new strategies for how it might use its control over state grant funds to promote compliance and improve public accountability--it's time to move past a simple (and still incomplete) paper review and look for ways to tie the receipt of funds to actual practices. [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
Educate the Judges regarding the minimum efforts that are required to render effective assistance of counsel and demand accountability for those who simply plead cases to satisfy the judge or get a pay check. Stop the practice of paying more to persons who plead indigent persons guilty on the first settings. [Defense Attorney]
Provide a list of basic actions which a defense lawyer should do when appoiinted. These would be in keeping, at a minimum, with the actions which comply with the court determinations of what competent attorneys do for the client. Judge's in my part of the state do not want to pay for "too much" representation. The attorney can choose between doing a through job but not getting paid for all of it, or doing a minimal job and providing inferior representation. [Defense Attorney]
I think our courts are in coompliance. [Defense Attorney]
give the judges less discretion who they appoint []
Some courts in Dallas County are still returning defendants to jail before they will appoint them a lawyer (ie. holding their bond insufficient), even though the ability to bond out should not be the determining factor for indigency. [Defense Attorney]
Ensure Effective Assistance of Counsel [Prosecutor]
Support court monitoring efforts by civic groups who want to see improvements in indigent defense services. [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
wish i knew [Defense Attorney]
Most judges don't want to break the law, they'd rather ignore it. Make it hard for the judges to ignore the law. Publicize. Educate. Survey indigent defendants. [Defense Attorney]
Require reporting on applications,approval,and denial of requests and publicize the results so it will be"cool" with judicial peers to have a program that meets constitutional muster. [Defense Attorney]
Recommend that judicial non-compliance with standards, and prejudicial treatment of those with court appointed counsel, be deemed judicial misconduct. [Defense Attorney]
There isn't much that can change the judges' perception of indigent defense and the importance of such. [Defense Attorney]
Educate in regarads as to the cost [Defense Attorney]
Take the money away if they have that power. [Defense Attorney]
Find some way to monitor the timeliness in which indigents are arraigned and appointment of defense counsel is made. [Defense Attorney]
Rank as non compliant and print same in the media. [Defense Attorney]
Fortunately our jurisdiction prvides great representation. [Defense Attorney]
I earnestly believe that the courts in our jurisdiction are complying in full with the law. []
Mandatory attendance of judges and staff to state sponsored seminars as requirements of receiving formula grants. [Court or County Employee]
forms to appeal the ct awarded fees [Defense Attorney]
Keep Harris County practices under close surveilance [Defense Attorney]
Providing detailed instructions, templates, manuals, etc. that allow us to comply with state laws relating to indigent defense without doing a lot of research or establishing programs/procedures on our own is very helpful. Our County Judge does not have a legal background (he was a law enforcement officer prior to serving as County Judge). Our activities are probably limited due to our population size. [Financial Officer]
All Courts are in compliance [Statutory County Judge]
Encourage the Courts to recognize that they cannot expect high standards yet constantly cut pay of appointed counsel arbitrarily, sometimes even below their declared minimum rate. [Defense Attorney]
Hire attorneys who truly care about people and the injustices done to their lives and those of their families. It is more entertaining for lawyers and judges in Texas to do the "good ole boy" routine than to care about what happens to some one's life and that of that person's family. [Citizen]
Monitor the parity of payments to attorneys in a given jurisdiction [Prosecutor]
What can the Task Force do to promote compliance by courts within your jurisdiction with the requirements of state law relating to indigent defense? (First Priority)
Pay qualified lawyers a reasonable fee [Defense Attorney]
Money [District Judge]
Assistance with funding. [District Judge]
Having the State fund more of the burden that they created and pushed down onto the counties. [Constitutional County Judge]
If the intent of the law is to provide qualified attorney representation to the poor, we must pay something more than what hair dressers make per hour. The federal fee would be adequate pay. We pay doctors more for indigent health care. [Statutory County Judge]
Provide more funding for Counties. [Financial Officer]
Some way to MAKE the magistrates go to the jail to read rights, etc. The JP's gripe all the time and don't go real often. We had been paying $5 per person per day for the magistrates to go and the Attorney General ruled that couldn't be done. I don't think the municiple court judge ever goes. The county judge goes the most often. [Financial Officer]
Make each regional administrative judge responsible for ensuring implementation by each court [Defense Attorney]
Timely reports from arresting agencies. [Other]
setting standards [Defense Attorney]
The OCA has the data to see where the monies should be appropriated, using population is the lazy way out. OCA publishes the TEXAS JUDICIAL SYSTEM ANNUAL REPORT, use the data, based on case load to determine funding. To make my point KIMBLE COUNTY for the first six months of this year has sent the STATE $292,492.00, in the same time frame we have received, from the STATE $3.609.00 for indigent defense. Kimble County has a Population of 4,468. Check out the last five years according to the annual report from OCA the results have been the same. [Constitutional County Judge]
Per our County Judge, just send money..... [Financial Officer]
better pay for counsel [Prosecutor]
Having access to a full time magistrate to handle the felony/misdemeanor jail docket for giving rights and warnings and making probable cause determinations. [District Judge]
A presentation by the Task Force at the next Judicial Conference. [Defense Attorney]
rual communities must take the lawyers that are available much of the time-stress the random selection a little less. []
Money for Attorneys and Investigators []
Standard requirements for inclusion of attorney on appointment lists. [Defense Attorney]
In Harris County, setting common sense, non-arbitrary standards to get qualified defense attorneys to seek appointments - not the current system that may look good on paper. [Defense Attorney]
Get the clients to the county jail, or wherever they will get appointed counsel, in a timely manner. Smaller cities within the county will often hold the client several days, or up to a week, at the city jail, before they transport them to Dallas County jail. And only THEN does the 72 hour deadline kick in. [Defense Attorney]
money [Court or County Employee]
Better Pay. I got off the list ($250/ felony plea) because one out of 4 would hire me for $1000 / felony plea. I break even on income, have lower costs, and have more time to devote to client. Minimum standards are fine to continue to be on list, but keep out young lawyers who could otherwise develop. Set up a co-counsel appointment to train new lawyers. [Defense Attorney]
Provide state funding for the appointed attorneys. [Prosecutor]
Money [Defense Attorney]
a better definition of indigent - as the rule is now, no one really understands the definition so they err on the side of appointing rather than getting in trouble by not reporting. People of middle class or higher should not be appointed attorneys. Just because someone spends all their income, which we all do, does not constitute reason for my tax payers to pay for them an attorney. They do all the extra curricular activities they want but then want me to pay for them an attorney because they broke the law. [Financial Officer]
More money to appointed counsel [Defense Attorney]
Adequate fundng especially in capital cases at the trial level, the appeal lstage and the wirt level. Trial Judges must begin to realize that to reverse a wrongfully convicted defendnat, especially at the writ level, the costs incurred to adequately compensate the attorneys is going to ge over a hundred thousand dollars up to the millions. [Defense Attorney]
Unreasonable caps on payments for appeals, investigation and expert assistance. [Defense Attorney]
n/a [Court or County Employee]
Setting of reasonable bonds, if a person can be released on pre-trial release under the state (county government's) supervision, then a defendant's resources could be used the pay for their own attorneys versus the state tax payer. [Defense Attorney]
An indigency standard that is formula-based, i.e. a weighted scoring system that reduces judicial discretion, [Other]
Clarification of how to determine someone's indigency. [Court or County Employee]
Reasonable fee schedules, that is, perhaps an hourly rate, instead of a flat fee system, and have the attorneys swear to the validty of the hours worked. [Defense Attorney]
money to pay costs [District Judge]
Nothing [Other]
Funding to encourage the participation under SB7 of excellent attorneys to represent indigent defendants [Defense Attorney]
none [Constitutional County Judge]
send more state money to local government [Constitutional County Judge]
Clear guidelines []
Money [Prosecutor]
Pretrial release [Constitutional County Judge]
Longer time frame [Constitutional County Judge]
Increase time for appointment of attorney after arrest [Constitutional County Judge]
Change time limits [Constitutional County Judge]
Less "control" by coordinators who demand to know why this case cannot be worked out on the first setting [Defense Attorney]
A centralized magistrate [District Judge]
Carrots: raises in saliries, budgets contingent on compliance. Stick: budgetary consequences for failure to comply [Defense Attorney]
Testing requirements for attorneys. [Other]
Reasonable & realistic compensation to be provided to appointed counsel. [Defense Attorney]
State funding [Other]
More money from the state [Other]
Collection of court cost, including attorney fees [Other]
Assign $ to the counties on the basis of need/compliance rather than simply population [Other]
Increase _state_ funding for the state's mandate for indigent defense [Other]
Compile a list of defense counsel who would serve as a strike force to travel to rural areas where there are a few or no lawyers available for appointment. [Other]
Better trained pool of attorneys [Other]
We live in a rural county and some attorneys from noncontiguous areas would like to get on list but cannot. []
Repeal SB7 [Other]
More money to assist the counties. We have not raised the Court Appointed fees in our county in almost 15 years. Most of the attorneys come from Jefferson and Harris County(primarily Harris County). To secure more qualified lawyers on our lists, we should raise our fees. [District Judge]
Match difficult case with a qualified lawyer (rotation among attorneys -- _low priority_) [Other]
? [Constitutional County Judge]
Repeal the act [Constitutional County Judge]
I think we are abiding by the law. [Statutory County Judge]
Video - Conferencing devices [Court or County Employee]
Testing requirements for attorneys. [Financial Officer]
Help fund indigence coordinator. [District Judge]
1. More money for court appointed counsel. [District Judge]
More state funding [Defense Attorney]
Secure funding for random investigation of truth of claims of indigency. [Prosecutor]
Perhaps having enough money to adequately pay a truly fair fee to all of those attorneys who are qualified and who take the many cases assigned to them over the years. [Statutory County Judge]
Require public defenders by office or by contract. [Defense Attorney]
Assistance in funding for indigent defense. Consideration of a subsidy program for counsel willing to accept employment as a retained counsel at a reduced rate. [District Judge]
More money to fund the program [Constitutional County Judge]
State funding [District Judge]
n/a [Constitutional County Judge]
More funding for indigent defense. [Statutory County Judge]
Meaningful feedback regarding "our" plan. Office of Court Administration provides direct feedback and reponds to questions and gives presonalized advice regarding court relared issues when needed. TFID's blanket statements containing mandates are not helpful to local jurisdictions. If the legislature wants to impose a single plan for all, then do so. Otherwise, give us someone to talk to and counsel with like OCA does. [Statutory County Judge]
The coordination of the reports that are due from the arresting agency. More cooperation is needed between the arresting agencies and the district attorney's office. [Financial Officer]
Money [Constitutional County Judge]
Higher level of funding [Other]
MORE MONEY FROM THE LEGISLATURE TO PAY INDIGENT COUNSEL. THIS ACT IS BREAKING COUNTIES AND OUR COUNTY IS NO EXCEPTION. [Statutory County Judge]
better screening of who gets a court appointed lawyer. Indigent is indigent, it is not the same as not rich. Making people hire counsel who can do so would take a tremendous load off of those who represent those who really are indigent [Defense Attorney]
More funding. [Statutory County Judge]
Money to pay counsel - Judge Richard Beacom [District Judge]
Obtain CCP and appellate court opinions allowing defendants to plead guilty without counsel and uphold enhancements based upon the prior judgment. This would prevent "the next judge" from undoing the proceedings for "lack of informed consent to plead." The main problem now is whether we continue to derail the process and overturn prior judgments when the same defendant has subsequent criminal cases. [Financial Officer]
More money [Statutory County Judge]
n/a [Financial Officer]
We have two lawyers in the county. One is the ex-County Attorney that practices in an adjoining county and the other is the current County Attorney. We have difficulty in keeping a list of willing attorneys once they get beyond the rookie stage. Very few want to drive 85 or 90 miles from Lubbock for only a few hundred dollars that we can pay. [Constitutional County Judge]
money [Financial Officer]
Fund the costs. [Constitutional County Judge]
Attorney compensation [Statutory County Judge]
Financial Assistance [Constitutional County Judge]
continuing to educate courts of statutes and any changes [Constitutional County Judge]
Reimbursement of some of the cost of providing indigent defense. [Constitutional County Judge]
An opportunity for all defendants to apply for a court appointed attorney regardless of whether or not they are on bond. [Defense Attorney]
Set standards that prohibit the court from appointing counsel known to be incompetent and provide for attorneys to be able to prohibit that through some channel (reporting the incompetent counsel). [Defense Attorney]
greater funding for attorneys [Defense Attorney]
Pay [Defense Attorney]
Provide the Counties more money to pay court appointed attorneys [Defense Attorney]
standarized definition of indigency [Defense Attorney]
Funds [Defense Attorney]
A close relationship with the software group in order to facilitate changes in the rules to the software being used to implement them [Financial Officer]
Guidelines for financial inability to hire counsel and receive a court appointed attorney [Court or County Employee]
simplify paper work [Statutory County Judge]
More money [Prosecutor]
As some basis of justification to budgeting authorities, create a Suggested State Standard for attorney fees but still allowing the judge of the court the discretion to increase those fees because of special circumstances. It seems the experienced attorneys are paid less than the unexperienced because it just takes newer attorneys longer to accomplish the same result. And it appears that attorneys whose livelyhood depends solely on court appointments are more likely to spend unnessesary time on a case than an attorney with a true private practice. [District Judge]
Pay better. [Defense Attorney]
Funding [Constitutional County Judge]
Indigency standards. [Court or County Employee]
Establish a model system of peer review for attys othewise appearing to be qualified for appointments. [District Judge]
Better lawyer training... minimum standards of competency. There are many, far too many, defense attorneys that we prosecutors take advantage of on a daily basis. They are clueless. I'm embarassed by how little some know, and how much more almost all of them should know. [Prosecutor]
more attention, cooperation, and input from an organized criminal defense bar, particularly a public defender office, and from the judiciary [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
more attention, cooperation, and input from an organized criminal defense bar, particularly a public defender office, and from the judiciary [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
Funding [District Judge]
Indigent Defense Costs continue to increase - More resources should be made available to the County to cover these costs. [Other]
ll. Reporting what they do at first appearance and make this part of their plan filed with the tasGive suggestions and advice on how to resolve the problem of screening people who come to cour twithout an attorney, such as diverting some of their funds to hire pre trial people to help or part time Masagistrates just for such purposes. [Defense Attorney]
Increased funding for support services. [Other]
Establish defender programs. [Citizen]
N/A to this office. [Financial Officer]
More funds []
standards set for felony counsel representation [District Judge]
Seminars, articles, and other written materials that expose the judiciary, attorneys, commissioners, prosecutors, andTask Force members to modern indigent defense procedures used by model local and state indigent defense systems within and outside of Texas. Because, there are few truly model systems within Texas, it would be very helpful for stateholders in Texas to be able to evaluate systems in other states that provide high quality services efficiently and effectively. [Other]
Our courts in McLennan County do an excellent job of qualifying persons who have the experience and capability of defending persons. The surrounding counties do not do such a great job of providing these services. The problem is that there is insufficient monies to properly pay appointed counsel. At $40-50 an hour, this barely covers overhead of most law firms. [Defense Attorney]
funding for indigent defense [Defense Attorney]
Educate the court coordinators and not just the judges [Defense Attorney]
Determine why so many indigent clients do not receive appointed counsel at time of magistration. Instead, they show up at arraignment seeking appointed counsel. This wastes resource and time. [Defense Attorney]
Procedures to insure that all defendants have had a meaningful opportunity to request counsel and have freely waived counsel before they are directed to engage in unrepresented discussions with prosecutors. [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
Require Judges to follow the law regarding appointments and the compensation required. Judges who put pressure on lawyers to plead defendants on first settings or to waive indictment lower the quality of representation given to indigents. Young lawyers give in and "keep costs down" and get the dispostion stats up. Old lawyers ignore the judges instructions to short sheet their clients. [Defense Attorney]
Help provide funding so that quality attorneys will be interested in taking court appointments. [Defense Attorney]
Stringent Qualifications for Appointed Attorneys [Prosecutor]
Money -- lots and lots of money. [Defense Attorney]
hold the county in contempt for violating their own plan because it means nothing to them to violate state law on compesnation [Defense Attorney]
Funding [Defense Attorney]
Funding for the establishment of public defender offices administered by a statewide public defender agency. [Defense Attorney]
I'm not sure that anyone in my county is really concerned with compliance with that state law. [Defense Attorney]
Better pay [Defense Attorney]
It does not do any good to appoint a lawyer within the time frames especially on an indigent defendant in jail, when the arresting agency takes longer than the appointment of a lawyer to file with the DA the necessary reports to file the case to begin the judicial process. The Task Force and probably the Code of Criminal Procedure need to address the courts, or detaining magistrates', remedies for slow filing of reports with DA by the agency and incomplete reports presented at 15.17. []
Public Defender services in high population density areas [Defense Attorney]
Written standards of what is required to ensure we are meeting all aspects of state law. [Financial Officer]
More state money to cover the expenses of indigent representation [Prosecutor]
More funding support from the state. [Defense Attorney]
Increased time to determine indigency and make appointment of counsel. [Court or County Employee]
Be honest and dependable!! [Citizen]
More resources to allow for better financial background checks to determine indigency [Prosecutor]
List in priority order three items that would assist your courts in fulfilling the requirements of state law relating to indigent defense. (Second Priority)
Refuse to appoint unqualified lawyers [Defense Attorney]
More Money [District Judge]
Raise experience and competency level of participating attorneys [District Judge]
The court, in rural areas, should be allowed to place any qualified attorney/law firm on the list of attorneys; usually a law firm will assign one attorney to perform indigent criminal defense work. I have lost many qualified attorneys who have opted out of indigent defense work. The court is stuck with a handful of attorneys who only perform indigent defense work. [Statutory County Judge]
Catch them when they begin their judicial career, and keep training them on their indigent defense obligations. Make them aware of their role in citizens' perceptions, negative and positive, of this country's/state's/county's criminal justice system. [Defense Attorney]
Cooperation from District Attorney's Office. [Other]
publishing them [Defense Attorney]
Thanks for asking, please READ # 1 [Constitutional County Judge]
Educating judges that the ability to make bond, especially when posted by a friend of the family, has no bearing on the ability to retain counsel. [Defense Attorney]
Requirements that judges appoint all attorneys that qualify for appointment who indicate a desire to take the appointments. [Defense Attorney]
In Harris County, education and monitors to ensure they actually follow the law to correctly determine whether a person is actually indigent and to prohibit incarcerating the indigent for failure to hire counsel. [Defense Attorney]
Get all the court personnel, including defense attorneys, online with the same jail information. [Defense Attorney]
money [Court or County Employee]
Better Expert / Investigator access. It's like pulling teeth to get remotely close to the kind of help prosecutors get from other prosecutors, local law enforcement, CPS experts, DPS labs and experts, FBI labs, etc. ALL OF WHOM GET REGULAR TRAINING FOR FREE! [Defense Attorney]
Money [Defense Attorney]
Money for social workers in MHMR cases [Defense Attorney]
Quality training is always a must, and in high profile cases, an experienced appellate attorney should be involved with trial counsel. [Defense Attorney]
n/a [Court or County Employee]
A county setting uniformed standards wherein court appointed counsel is appointed. [Defense Attorney]
Mandatory education for defense attorneys in punishment, immigration, parole and other colalterial consequences at the district and county court level. Get legislative input and if there is legislative support, draft standards, get public comment and set standards. [Other]
Clarification of when and how to deny the request for a court appointed attorney on un-indicted and indicted cases. [Court or County Employee]
Reasonable training and experience levels for different types of cases. [Defense Attorney]
televideo facilities between jails, courts and attorneys [District Judge]
Nothing [Other]
ensuring that the representation provided to indigent defendants meets the requirements of state law through post-representation monitoring [Defense Attorney]
none [Constitutional County Judge]
simplify standards [Constitutional County Judge]
Some state funding []
Money [Prosecutor]
Pretrial divesrion [Constitutional County Judge]
Pretrial release on [illegible fax] [Constitutional County Judge]
Provide more state money [Constitutional County Judge]
Help with funding [Constitutional County Judge]
Insure that Courts provide funds for investigators, instead of referring the defense attorneys to read the offense report [Defense Attorney]
A means of gathering financial information on defendants who request appointed counsel [District Judge]
Monitoring by administrative judge for the region (in our case Judge Ables) [Defense Attorney]
Additional education requirements for attorneys representing mentally ill defendants. [Other]
Qualification standards for general court appointed counsel as well as specialized cases such as mental health and non-citizen defendants. [Defense Attorney]
State funding [Other]
Easily understood standards and rules [Other]
Standards to determine indigent status [Other]
Don't impose unfunded mandates [Other]
Allow flexibility in ad hoc plans [Other]
More money [Other]
As mentioned above, create more clear guidelines to let judges remove attorneys for performances which may not rise to level of ineffective assistance, but clearly are subar on the one hand or overcharge for ridiculous numbers of hours on the other. []
If not #1, state funding for its mandate [Other]
Some assistance financially to aid with the investigation of the felony level cases - 2nd and 1st degree primarily. [District Judge]
Minimum fee requirements that must be paid by counties. [Other]
Repeal the act [Constitutional County Judge]
Additional education requirements for attorneys representing mentally ill defendants. [Financial Officer]
Develope best practice model. [District Judge]
See one [District Judge]
Consequences for ignoring the mandates of the Fair Defense Act [Defense Attorney]
Try to make clear to the court that appointment of counsel for one accused of a felony is not required until the person appears in court without counsel and only after adversarial judicial proceedings have been initiated. Counsel are now being appointed more promptly than retained attorneys are usually hired. Felony suspects should not receive counsel until the prosecutor determines to pursue a charge. [Prosecutor]
Make judges more accountable for funding of defense [Defense Attorney]
Reduced cost CLE programs for attorney's accepting appointments to represent indigent defendants. [District Judge]
Rasonable time lines and deadlines [District Judge]
n/a [Constitutional County Judge]
State wide fund for capital murder trail or other high cost trials in small counties. [Statutory County Judge]
Increased funding to the counties, especially those under 250,000, to help offset the local cost of compliance. [Statutory County Judge]
More manpower is needed. [Financial Officer]
Money [Constitutional County Judge]
Standards for language interpreters and a statewide list of available interpreters. [Statutory County Judge]
Funding MHMR to handle 20% of defendants with mental problems - Judge Richard Beacom [District Judge]
Restore faith in the integrity of law enforcement. We seem to believe that nobody is responsible for their acts as long as they can get an effective spin before the court. Our system needs far fewer variables which the attorneys, by trade, throw into the system. [Financial Officer]
More attorneys [Statutory County Judge]
n/a [Financial Officer]
Make a fairer system for a county that for example has 1,400 people. We might have a full year with minimum activity then a year with a murder case which causes a spike. If we are unlucky enough to have a year with a low indigent defense cost selected as our baseline, we are in trouble if we have a murder case the next year. [Constitutional County Judge]
money [Financial Officer]
Educate the attorneys. [Constitutional County Judge]
Attorney qualifications [Statutory County Judge]
standards / guidelines to help judges determine if a defendant is in fact indigent [Constitutional County Judge]
More random assigning of cases to court appointed counsel without any input from Judges or Coordinators. [Defense Attorney]
Assuming competent counsel is appointed, we should be paid to enable us to adequately and effectively represent the citizen accused. [Defense Attorney]
greater funding for support services [Defense Attorney]
Pay [Defense Attorney]
Have mechanism to sanction judges for failure to abide by state law which will not punish the attorney who brings a judges failure to abide by the law to light [Defense Attorney]
Funds [Defense Attorney]
Guidelines with consequences that would help us insure compliance of our attorneys in immediately responding to their appointments [Court or County Employee]
reward compliance [Statutory County Judge]
More money [Prosecutor]
Allow experts and/or investigators to be appointed to assist in the defense. [Defense Attorney]
Enough attorneys for indigent defense who will take the cases [Constitutional County Judge]
Mandating standardize fee schedules or range. [Court or County Employee]
Establish uniform indigency stds. [District Judge]
Defense attorneys tell me that the jail makes it difficult for them to meet with their newly appointed clients within the time limit. Many attorneys have started going to the jail at two o'clock in the morning in order to be able to visit their clients. They say it's too crowded and slow during the day/early night. Perhaps the courts could order better access. [Prosecutor]
more money [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
more money [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
Qualification of counsel [District Judge]
Define "other defense services" [Other]
Ask the local criminal bar to support the Judges in following the statute and coming into complaince. [Defense Attorney]
Increased awareness and training concerning mentally ill defendants. [Other]
Training for assigned counsel. [Citizen]
N/A to this office [Financial Officer]
Less legislation []
standards set for compensation of counsel [District Judge]
Encouraging and supporting the formation of additional model public defender programs. [Other]
free training for those willing to take indigent defense cases [Defense Attorney]
Educate us (defense lawyers) on the requirements [Defense Attorney]
Appointed counsel should receive compensation that would motivate more of them to properly develop and investigate cases. [Defense Attorney]
An objective standard for determining who is or is not financially eligible for appointed counsel, which would reduce administrative burdens on court staff and reduce reliance on irrelevant and/or illegal factors such as bond status, physical appearance, etc. [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
Set guidelines for the appointment of investigators, expert witnesses, and support personnel. As it stands now, Judges are refusing to appoint investigators in "routine" cases--i.e. non-death penalty cases--unless the lawyer is very persistent and even then they limit the funds to an unreasonably low amount. [Defense Attorney]
Help mandate courts to pay attorneys for providing legal services based on something greater than $1000 for pre-trial preparation-- no competent lawyer can handle announcements, interviews, pretrials, and prepare for a jury trial for $1,000-- and provide "effective assistance". [Defense Attorney]
Consistent Application of Guidelines for Appointment of Attorneys [Prosecutor]
A political constituency making effective demand for competent and effective indigent defense. [Defense Attorney]
Funding. [Defense Attorney]
Public defender office [Defense Attorney]
The Task Force continue to work on funding the cost of adaquate criminal defense of indigents. []
State wide standards for all attorneys involved in indigent defense [Defense Attorney]
Training for all parties involved in indigent defense. Thanks bunches for having training spread out throughout the state. By having the training sessions closer to our county, we can attend without being away from the office for too long plus save our travel budget for other purposes. [Financial Officer]
Uniform standards of performance. Preferably the ABA standards. [Defense Attorney]
Put the client's life and interest first and stop looking at the dollar signs! [Citizen]
More funding for attorneys [Prosecutor]
List in priority order three items that would assist your courts in fulfilling the requirements of state law relating to indigent defense. (Third Priority)
Much More Money [District Judge]
Promote public acceptance of the need for indigent defense programs. [District Judge]
Additional manpower. [Other]
making certain all courts in texas were aware of these standards. [Defense Attorney]
Ref. to # 1 [Constitutional County Judge]
Educating judges that even indigent defendants sometimes need experts at trial. [Defense Attorney]
Removing the descretion of the judges to exclude qualified attorneys based on personal preference or location of the attorney's office. [Defense Attorney]
In Harris County, prohibit the use of non-licensed interpreters for pleas. This has been illegal for some time according to the attorney general. [Defense Attorney]
Make courts realize that examining trials are a RIGHT, not a privelege, and that the Rules of Evidence apply in these hearings. And get the law enforcement people to show up, AND send the person who actually made the arrest, not the person who wrote the report. [Defense Attorney]
money [Court or County Employee]
Court files its own Discovery Order in Indigent cases. Saves money because Defense Counsel doesn't have to do it, and protects Defendant against later claim of Ineffective Assistance if he/she fails to do so. Also, require State to set date and time for file review with Def. Counsel. The time is set, and Def. Counsel has to show up, and he/she gets paid for the strictly documented time. [Defense Attorney]
Money [Defense Attorney]
Money for investigators [Defense Attorney]
Selecting the best availabe attorneys to represent defendants. Of course Roger Clements does not always pitch a shutout. [Defense Attorney]
n/a [Court or County Employee]
Giving defendants a reasonable period of time to hire counsel, and the time to earn funds to pay for counsel. [Defense Attorney]
Allow more time for the court appointment of attorneys and allow more than 24 hours for the attorney to make an initial visit. [Court or County Employee]
develop easily accessible, inexpensive cle to help maintain skills in juvenile law [District Judge]
Nothing [Other]
provide for funding of support services for attorneys representing indigent defendants [Defense Attorney]
none [Constitutional County Judge]
expand the 3-day rule [Constitutional County Judge]
Flexibility []
Money [Prosecutor]
Cash bonding on misdemeanor [Constitutional County Judge]
More $ from state [Constitutional County Judge]
If a lawyer comes and is just not ready for trial, accommdate him within reason, so that the case does not have to come back on an IAC claim. [Defense Attorney]
Staff to assist in #2, above [District Judge]
Enforcement quidelines for attorney behavior, such as contacting the client within 24 hours and requirement of stats on disposition of criminal cases. If you have an attorney that does not take ANY criminal case to trial in several years that may be something that needs to be investigated to insure that the defendants are receiving appropriate representation (such as a review board to consider complaints). [Other]
Greater support assistance, i.e. co-counsels and complex cases, more investigators, better pay for them, and lower threshholds for the granting of appointed support personnel. [Defense Attorney]
State funding [Other]
Less crime [Other]
Department to prosecute fraudulent indigent affidavits [Other]
More money [Other]
See above. [Other]
Repeal the act [Constitutional County Judge]
Enforcement guidelines for attorney behavior, such as contacting the cleint within 24 hours. [Financial Officer]
Standardize implementation of appointment system across the state. [District Judge]
See one [District Judge]
More concern for protecting rights than moving dockets [Defense Attorney]
Anything which would discourage use of ad hoc appointments (i.e., favor contract defender program or formation of a public defender office) [Prosecutor]
Eliminate judicial discretion in the appointments of defense counsel [Defense Attorney]
Development of a state wide program to that the plans as required to be filed with the Task Force or not in a continual state of flux. [District Judge]
Affordable CLE for court appointed counsel [District Judge]
n/a [Constitutional County Judge]
Variable standards of indigency depending on local levels of cost of living. Indigency should vary with local median income. [Statutory County Judge]
Software to track defendants arraigned after arrest but before charges are filed. It is very arduous to track them, especially if they do not request an attorney, to make sure they don't fall through the cracks. [Statutory County Judge]
Money [Constitutional County Judge]
Define "other defense services" [Other]
Assure accountability to voters of the magistrate making the appointments. Smaller jurisdictions do not necessarily have the same problems experienced in larger jurisdictions. [Financial Officer]
n/a [Financial Officer]
Create a system by judicial district rather than by individual county. [Constitutional County Judge]
money [Financial Officer]
Cut out the red tape. [Constitutional County Judge]
additional money so that we may pay attorneys more and attract more attorneys will to take indigent cases [Constitutional County Judge]
A more liberal granting of funds for investigators and experts to assist court appointed counsel in adequately defending the client. [Defense Attorney]
We need resources for experts, etc. [Defense Attorney]
subsidized CLE [Defense Attorney]
Pay [Defense Attorney]
Funds [Defense Attorney]
More frequent training. Especially right before our new applications and resolutions are due. [Court or County Employee]
simplify plan requirements [Statutory County Judge]
more money [Prosecutor]
Guidelines for use of experts and investigators. [Court or County Employee]
3. Clarify the requirement that appointed attys be given the requisites (investigators, psychologists, etc.) they need to represent their clients and that the decision as to which experts, etc. to hire should be that of the defense atty and not the judge (since it is the defense atty who will have to work with this individual). The judge may establish reasonable criteria (such as licenses required, experience in the field, etc.), but should not choose which of those qualified person the defense atty has to use. [District Judge]
Attitude change. Every single judge acts like they personally are paying for the defense attorneys. They frequently cut hours, which results in the attorneys saying, "well, I'm not going to get paid to do this or that, so I just won't, screw the client." Divest the judges of the responsibility of appointing and paying defense attorneys. Set up an indigent defense coordinators office in each county that does it all, freeing the judges to concentrate on running their court rooms, not the county budgets. And, yes, I'm a prosecutor! [Prosecutor]
reform of bail bond practices to minimize unnecessary use of bail, particularly in misdemeanor cases [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
reform of bail bond practices to minimize unnecessary use of bail, particularly in misdemeanor cases [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
Education of counsel on requirements to represent once appointed. e.g. contact with client [District Judge]
Ask the Judges and prosecutors to be sensitive to those attys that do not do an obvioiusly adequate job in representing their clients....such as those that never file motions, see the video, talk to the familoy of the defendant, . This should be reported and action taken to resolve these problems. [Defense Attorney]
Remote access to magistrates [for some of our surrounding and outlying areas]. [Other]
Performance standards. [Citizen]
N/A to this office [Financial Officer]
standards set for qualifications for experts, investigators, etc and fee standards for same [District Judge]
Developing standards and educational programs that eliminate some jurisdictions' reliance on waivers of counsel and uncounseled guilty pleas, particularly in misdemeanors. [Other]
clearer guidelines for the term "indigent" [Defense Attorney]
We have many judges who delegate the entire system to a clerk. [Defense Attorney]
Sample attorney performance standards that would provide courts an essential tool for monitoring and improving the quality of representation. Particularly in a statewide system that largely lacks the supervision and training afforded by public defender offices, qualification standards that look at years of practice, number of trials, etc are not adeqate to ensure competent representation. [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
Give training sessions to appointed counsels on how to get support staff appointed, how to resist the demands to move cases when that is not in the client's best interest and possibly set up a realistic appeals process for when funds are underpaid, or expert witnesses or investigators are denied. The system now is impratical and designed for one purpose--DENIED! [Defense Attorney]
As far as performance standrads and qualifications for certain types of cases, I think that the State Bar and the Ethics Board already handle that. [Defense Attorney]
Requirement of Specialization for Certain Special Areas, such as Capital Murder Defense and Juvenile Defense [Prosecutor]
New judges with attitudes amenable to competent and effective indigent (as well as nonindigent)defense. [Defense Attorney]
Funding. [Defense Attorney]
Minimum CLE and testing over same (books like the prosecutors' office has as to how to handle a DWI, etc.) [Defense Attorney]
I suggest the Task Force address the streamlining of appointments of attorneys for indigent defendants with multiple cases in multiple juristictions/venues. []
Standardized training courses related to the above [Defense Attorney]
Passing on ideas from other counties that maybe we could use to better our services without all the time researching/establishing/etc. [Financial Officer]
More support for predictable trial docketing procedures and uniformity in case management procedures and local rules in multi-court jurisdictions. [Defense Attorney]
Pay the attorneys who do defend indigent people enough so they will care what happens and not just show up both in trials and appeal courts. [Citizen]
Parity of payments to defense attorneys depending on work performed [Prosecutor]
Identify the biggest challenge within your jurisdiction in fulfilling the requirements of state law relating to indigent defense.
Finding competent attorneys who are willing to undertake the responsibility of properly representing indigent defendants, in return for the pittance that most receive. [District Judge]
Funding, and public perception of the need for the program. [District Judge]
Money. Also, finding attorneys who are willing and able to accept appointments in a small rural county is difficult. When the new law was implemented several years ago, it caused counties to have to appoint more attorneys earlier in the process thus, causing counties to bear a very difficult financial burden with very little help from the State. [Constitutional County Judge]
Since SB7 I have lost a number of attorneys who once provided exceptional legal representation to the poor. In the past we were able to enlist all attorneys from a two to three county area; the total would not exceed 20. These same attorneys have opted out of the court appointments and are unwilling to provide any representation. A handful of attorneys are now on the list. The Court now faces a shortage of attorneys. Moreover, attorneys now threaten to get off the list at the slightest admonishment from the court. And the court is reluctant to press attorneys to perform their jobs and to threaten with contempt for failure to appear for trial. [Statutory County Judge]
Having sufficient revenue to pay Court Appointed Attorneys [Financial Officer]
Giving court appointed attorney's out like they are candy and the court's failure to pay for necessary expert witnesses/consultant's [Defense Attorney]
Getting the DA's office to return phone calls! There are some new law school grads that are sole practitioners and really don't have a clue about criminal procedure and rules of evidence. [Defense Attorney]
Competing with law enforcement, prosecution and other "mandated" programs for limited county $$. [Defense Attorney]
Timely reports from arresting agencies. [Other]
persuading judges to change old established standards [Defense Attorney]
Paying for it. [Constitutional County Judge]
Per our County Judge, paying for the required attorney... [Financial Officer]
funds to pay counsel [Prosecutor]
Getting the appointed attorney to stay in communication with indigent defendant. Most problems arise from lack of communication. [District Judge]
Holding indigent defendants in jail on unreasonably high bonds for their income level. [Defense Attorney]
comply with the random and fair selection of attorneys when the pool is limited-sometimes it is diffcult to meet deadline of appointment an at same time rotate the appointments to different attorneysx []
Representing even a few indigent appointed clients and trying to keep a law office open. []
The biggest challenge is usually funding the expert or the investigator necessary to prepare for trial. [Defense Attorney]
In Harris County, getting qualified counsel to represent the indigent and not just the judges' favorites. [Defense Attorney]
Same as stated above: getting the client an appointed attorney within the 72 hour limit, due to the smaller law enforcement agencies holding on to clients before transporting them to county, which is where the 72 hour deadline kicks in. [Defense Attorney]
Cutting fees; refusing to pay out of court time [Defense Attorney]
the county judge [Court or County Employee]
Adequate funding [District Judge]
The collective Law Enforcement budget overwhelms the Indigent Defendant. Lawyers who accept ct appts should get free cle, have at least a state office support staff (motion bank, a few staff lawyers in Austin to call, a central repository of ideas and resources) to begin to balance the dispairity that results in convictions of innocent people. [Defense Attorney]
Cost. [Prosecutor]
Lack of money [Defense Attorney]
Finding the money to pay for the indigent attorneys. Now we have also been having to hire interpreters which is additioal money spent. [Financial Officer]
Social services, i.e. drug/alcohol counseling, housing, job training for MHMR and other poor people. [Defense Attorney]
Capital cases present the most challenge along with hight profile cases inpecially sexual assaults where complicated forensic issues may be involved. Having access to experts to challenge forensic testimony is very critical. It is about time criminal attorneys are given the opportunity to have access in the courtroom to computer technology espically where the State is given grants to get new compter related technology. [Defense Attorney]
getting the attorneys to establish a face to face meeting with the appointed client within a stated time period. [District Judge]
Cost [Court or County Employee]
I believe Tarrant County is in compliance with state law related to indigent defense, there is fine tuning on going. [Defense Attorney]
Tracking and coding of cases to prepare the Indigent Defense Expediture Report each year. [Court or County Employee]
Funding [District Judge]
The financial affidavits are difficult for defendants to understand and complete accurately. No one at the jail helps the defendant and/or questions them in regard to their answers. When we receive the financial affidavits in our office at the 54th District Court, we regularly have questions about the information or lack of information provided by the defendant. If the affidavit is not properly filled out, then the request is denied. If the defendant is still in jail, then we have to request another affidavit. This procedure slows down the appointment process and increase our work. [Court or County Employee]
Initial and on-going determinations of an accused person's ability to pay some or all of the attorney's fees incurred in representation of that person, including, if appropriate, the family's ability to contribute. [District Judge]
Funding [Financial Officer]
The contract system for the felony courts [Defense Attorney]
see above [District Judge]
Nothing [Other]
Coming up with the money to pay indigent defense. Our County is a very poor county and the additional cost of indigent defense has really put a strain on our budget. [Financial Officer]
the extreme lack of funding by Bexar County for the reasonable and necessary attorneys fees for representation of indigent defendants [Defense Attorney]
none [Constitutional County Judge]
Cost [Financial Officer]
Having to appoint an attorney for a misdemeanor defendant that has a felony or blue warrant pending. This forces me to appoint an attorney in a situation when I would normally bond the defendant out of jail. [Constitutional County Judge]
The biggest challenge is determing reasonable felony bonds for defendants to appear in court. It appears that bonds in our area (Smith County) are exceptionally high. Defendants spend an enormous amount of money on bond, leaving no money to retain counsel. Therefore, more defendants are being appointed counsel, placing a burden on our indigent defense system. [Defense Attorney]
getting people to try to hire an attorney before applying for court appointed attorney [Statutory County Judge]
Getting the judges to cooperate. []
Standards for qualification for a court appointed attorney is TOO LOW! [Prosecutor]
Local legal custom as it effects high bond amounts and use of surety bond by bail bondsmen. [Constitutional County Judge]
Time between arrest and appointment should be increased. [Constitutional County Judge]
Money cost to appoint lawyers [Constitutional County Judge]
Compliance with above. [Defense Attorney]
See above [Constitutional County Judge]
Attorneys are assigned too many cases. []
Separating the truly indigent from those who want a free ride through the system [District Judge]
Changing the mindset of judges, and tactics by a small number of lawyers who rely almost exclusively on criminal appointments for their livelihood. [Defense Attorney]
Budget & Finance, including attorneys fees and interpreters. [Other]
See statements relating to finances above. [Defense Attorney]
Interference from the state without a financial investment in the plan. [Other]
Lack of sufficient funds to properly pay appointed counsel. They have to work for too little money. [Other]
Determining indigent status [Other]
Budget and practical implications of funding. [Other]
Finding attorney who are qualified to come to rural areas for the compensation that is being paid. [Other]
Having the time to ensure that defense counsel is complying with the requirements of state law and teh indigent defense plan for the county in which the attorney is appointed. [Other]
Lack of qualified attorneys in rural counties and not enough $ to pay for travel and time to out of county attorneys. [Other]
1. Keeping attorneys honest in getting in touch with clients within 24 hours. 2. Dealing with an appointment of counsel rate of 80% of our felony caseload -- cost is going up each year with no end in sight. []
We are able to fulfill the requirements, albeit at much cost to the counties and with no better (or sometimes worse) representation. [Other]
Keeping good lawyers motivated to do indigent work. [Other]
MOney [Constitutional County Judge]
The lack of a model indigent defense plan that can be easily customized in order to meet state requirements. [Statutory County Judge]
The biggest challenge counties face is the increased cost associated with indigent defense. [Constitutional County Judge]
We spend 650,00 which is 400,000 more than we did before the act for which we get less than 50,000 from the state. [Constitutional County Judge]
Granting attorneys over the weekend or on Mondays that have Commissioners Court that last all day. Also have some problems with attorneys contacting clients in Jail or after they make bond. [Statutory County Judge]
Budget & Finance, including attorneys fees and interpreters. [Financial Officer]
We feel we meet the requirements of state law relating to indigent defense. [District Judge]
Paying attorneys what they deserve. Trying to maintain a rotation list of appointed attorneys when so few attorneys have adequate defense skills [District Judge]
Finding good lawyers willing to work for the pay grade while enduring the hassles of indigent defense work [Defense Attorney]
The most competent attorneys are exempted from serving as assigned counsel. [Prosecutor]
Perhaps having enough money to adequately pay a truly fair fee to those attorneys who are qualified and who take the cases assigned to them. [Statutory County Judge]
We are located in a low population district. Attorneys that will take indigent defense assignments are a very low percent of the available attorney force. [Financial Officer]
The judges on the bench, who are far too close to the DA's office. [Defense Attorney]
Criminal defendants learn quickly in the criminal justice system. The rate of defendants requesting court appointed attorneys has increased greatly overburdening our county with the added expense. [District Judge]
Availability of attorneys for appointment. [Constitutional County Judge]
Dealing with untrained JPs serving as weekend magistrates. The county has recently removed it's contract magistrates, all of whom were licensed attorneys with associate judicial experience and is replacing them with three rural JPs with little or no experience with the indigent defense system. [District Judge]
Availibility of attorneys in this area. [Constitutional County Judge]
Taxing local citizens to pay for state mandated indigent defense. [Constitutional County Judge]
County Comissioners [Defense Attorney]
Money. We need to increase the payment to lawyers. They do excellent work now, but need a raise. [District Judge]
Ability of indigent defendant to complete paperwork. Some inability to read; some just non-compliance with form instructions. [District Judge]
Obtaining verifiable compliance from appointed counsel re their making significant contact with the defendant. [Statutory County Judge]
Money to pay appointed attorneys' fees. [Statutory County Judge]
Financial drain on county resources. [Statutory County Judge]
Proper Funding [District Judge]
The biggest challenge is the reports needed on defendants before they go to court. [Financial Officer]
Money [Constitutional County Judge]
Cost has gone up approx. 70 %- More funds should be made availabe to the counties to cover these additional cost. [Other]
GETTING THE INDIGENT REQUEST FORMS FROM THE JAIL TO THE JUDGES TO BE ABLE TO REVIEW IN MISDEMEANOR CASES. HOPEFULLY INTER ACTIVE VIDEO WITH THE JAIL WILL CURE THIS IN THE NEXT YEAR. [Statutory County Judge]
No local attorneys [Financial Officer]
recognizing indigent for what it is....our justices of the peace have no accountability whatsoever for their appointing a lawyer [Defense Attorney]
Communication from all parties involved in order to timely perform all functions. [Statutory County Judge]
Money - Judge Richard Beacom [District Judge]
Paying the ever increasing costs related to appointed counsel, both indigent criminal defense and civil appointments (mostly CPS cases)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [Financial Officer]
Adequate resources for mental evaluations and investigation in cases going to trial. [Defense Attorney]
Budget [Defense Attorney]
Time to see incarcerated defendants quickly [Statutory County Judge]
n/a [Financial Officer]
Again, finding attorneys of quality willing to drive to our location for what we can pay. PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM NOT PAINTING THEM ALL WITH THE SAME BRUSH. WE HAVE SOME VERY FINE LAWYERS THAT DO A GREAT JOB. [Constitutional County Judge]
money [Financial Officer]
Red tape and accepting the fact that we will have to adapt to rules that were designed because of a problem [or perceived problem] that happened in some other jurisdiction that does not apply locally. Each year the Task Force comes up with new requirements that seem to be more related to job security than the defense of indigent individuals. [Constitutional County Judge]
MONEY [Constitutional County Judge]
Finding attorneys willing to take indigent cases [Constitutional County Judge]
The cost of providing indigent defense. [Constitutional County Judge]
Funding [Defense Attorney]
Even if attorneys were not under pressure to plead out defendants quickly or risk not being asked back by the court, they have so many cases they don't seem to have time to do an adequate job on their cases even should they be given funds for an investigator or expert. A limit should be placed on the number of open cases each court appointed attorney can handle at one time. [Defense Attorney]
Providing effective representation when we know we will not be adequately compensated. It basically forces lawyers to try to force clients to plead. I have simply become an excellent "plea negotiater." Trials are few and far between for indigent clients. [Defense Attorney]
lack of funding [Defense Attorney]
Pay [Defense Attorney]
Based on what judges are willing to pay, it appears that judges don't really want attorneys to work hard on an indigent client's case [Defense Attorney]
Funds [Defense Attorney]
Politics [Financial Officer]
Everyone in the chain is not doing their part as timely as they should (sometimes). I have spoken to everyone involved, but after a few days everything goes back to the way it was before. [Court or County Employee]
Funding the State mandates [Other]
this is over complicated [Statutory County Judge]
Tarrant County has always taken a pro-active approach in fulfilling the requirements of state law relating to indigent defense. Currently, Tarrant County is addressing the need for electronically tracking the requirements of the state law relating to indigent defense and the time deadlines associated with these laws. [Court or County Employee]
We have one particular judge who thinks she does not have to comply with the law. [Defense Attorney]
Making sure Attorneys follow thru, according to Indigent Defence plan. [Court or County Employee]
Funding for attorneys. We are a rural county and have to import attorneys from other cities. [Constitutional County Judge]
The time requirements in a big county unrealistic []
Direction from State delineating funds earmarked to address indigent defense rather than relying on counties to fund the program. [Court or County Employee]
Getting the defense attys to represent their clients and not just take the path of least resistance and have them plead to the best offer. [District Judge]
Budget. The end. [Prosecutor]
absence of the three priority items listed above (organized defense bar and judiciary, money, modern bail practices) [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
absence of the three priority items listed above (organized defense bar and judiciary, money, modern bail practices) [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
These questions really need to be addressed to the judge's and clerk's of our courts. My only involvment in the indigent defense process is to pay the attorneys when the court orders it. I know the number of defendants requesting an attorney seems to be constantly growing and it seems that part of the reason for this is that our courts cannot challenge a person's claim of indigency so more and more are qualifying. I know that we have no attorneys in our county so all appointments made are of attorneys from outside the county. [Financial Officer]
Funding and continued indigency status after initial appointment. [District Judge]
This is another example of unfunded mandates. True, we do get some grant funds, but it doesn't cover entire cost of the program. Because of this unfunded mandate, other local programs can't be funded to the extent that they require. [Statutory County Judge]
There is a huge discrepancy in the amount available for indigent defendants who require experts in their respective cases, including but not limited to investigators, throughout the state. In our jurisdiction, the amount generally approved by the judge is nominal in even the most complex of cases. [Defense Attorney]
Increase financial burden on the County [Other]
Supporting Judges in creating a system to follow the law and obtaining funds to help judges do the screeing [Defense Attorney]
Funding [District Judge]
Local tradition of autonomy among judges, creating a diverse "county plan". [Other]
Overcoming barriers to the creation of adequately funded and effective public defender programs. [Citizen]
N/A to this office. [Financial Officer]
Additional paperwork without adding more employees. []
finding qualified counsel who are willing to accept indigent defense cases at the felony level. [District Judge]
To few attorneys []
Insufficient exposure to model methods used in states and cities outside of Texas [Other]
Sometimes not enough expert or investigative funds are available [Defense Attorney]
Pay of court appointed counsel is too low which results in the good and well qualified attorneys taking their name off the court appointed counsel list [Defense Attorney]
Pay of court appointed counsel is too low which results in the good and well qualified attorneys taking their name off the court appointed counsel list [Defense Attorney]
The incredibly low pay to appointed attorneys in Bexar County. It is ripe for a constitutional challenge. An attorney in this county accepting a court appointed case is paid the equivalent of a fast food worker. [Defense Attorney]
Lack of a mainstream political constituency to advocate for improved funding for and provision of indigent defense services. [Advocacy Non-profit Organization]
FUNDS, the refusal to appoint support staff--investigators, expert witnesses, etc., the pressure on defense counsel to "move cases" regardless of the equities of the client's cause, and FUNDS. [Defense Attorney]
see above [Defense Attorney]
Rendering Effective Assistance of Counsel [Prosecutor]
The attitude of the judges towards indigent defense. Budget. The lack of political support for competent and effective appointed counsel for the indigent. [Defense Attorney]
will not pay the attorney, regardless of the law [Defense Attorney]
County Commissioner's Court. They won't allocate funds and are generally out of touch with the demands placed on the judges. [Defense Attorney]
Combating the penurious chorus about "unfunded mandates" [Defense Attorney]
Performance of appointed counsel remains abysmal in too many cases. [Defense Attorney]
Funding [District Judge]
Being paid a fair fee for representing this type of client. The county has many other priorities. [Defense Attorney]
Timely appointment of defense counsel and the delay in presenting cases for indictment causing lengthy delay in bringing cases to trial [Defense Attorney]
Politics in the selection of counsel [Defense Attorney]
Fair Compensation Particularly where a case is dimissed on the eve of trial [Defense Attorney]
We have a 5 county judicial system and our Dist. Judge is 110 miles away. We have to fax paper work etc. back and forth to do the atty. appoints within the time frame specified. [Financial Officer]
We timely appoint attorneys but cases of indigent defendants in jail are delayed and the jail overcrowded because of delays in reports being filed by loaw enforcement agencies. The judicial process cannot begin without complete reports being timely filed at 15.17 and then with the DA for filing of the case. []
Unwillingness of local judges to cooperate with program. Court space is limited and dock is very full. [Court or County Employee]
local good old boys and girls in the system [Defense Attorney]
Very small county with limited resources (financial as well as personnel). We do our best to try and comply with all requirements but could do better. Speaking for my office, I don't have a lot of extra time to research or plan ahead. My assistant and I are pretty busy with just our normal daily duties. But we are upheld to the same duties as the auditor's in larger counties with a large staff of employees. We depend a lot on getting guidance from other counties/organizations to help us. [Financial Officer]
Money [Prosecutor]
Identifying persons who, in fact, are qualified for appointed counsel. Recognition should be given that people who cannot afford felony representation, may nevertheless be able to afford misdemeanor representation. [Defense Attorney]
Ensuring that only those who are truly indigent receive appointed counsel and developing a system to appoint counsel timely yet not so promptly as to discourage individual retainment of counsel. [Court or County Employee]
Honesty and trustworthiness. [Citizen]
Lack of financial resources [Prosecutor]