Special Reports

Public Defenders Send Out An SOS

MIAMI (CBS4) ― We are used to seeing Chief Investigative Reporter Michele Gillen report from the Miami-Dade County jail investigating overcrowded conditions of the 9th floor, but now she's reporting on an SOS being sent not by prisoners but rather lawyers. This is the story of public defenders and why they think you might care about their concerns.

"The heart of the message is that it's a crisis, this is an emergency situation," Rory Stein, general council for the Public Defender's office tells Gillen. Stein describes an avalanche of cases combined with unprecedented budget cuts that he believes has the effect of handcuffing an office charged with defending the indigent. Stein continued, "generally speaking when there is an economic downturn there is more crime and there are more cases as a consequence. I think our caseload has grown 12 percent in a very short period of time."

Friday the office turned to the courts in a first step toward freezing much of their attorney's caseload. It was decided that multiple cases filed- arguing this point - would be consolidated.

The decision to go to court for relief was described by State Senator Victor Crist as "outrageously shameful" In a phone interview with Gillen today, he alleged that 90 percent of those represented by the public defenders are guilty and pay nothing. He suggested that in these economic times, they should be asked to pay something. Crist charged that budget cuts are deep across the board and the cuts to the Public Defenders Office this past year amount to only .006 percent. Stein says that's not the case, "the fact is our trial budget has been cut two and a half million dollars in the past year.

Meanwhile a reported crisis from cuts is also being felt yards away, at the courthouse.

Assistant Chief Administrative Judge Steven Leifman, says recent and expected cuts may result in more street crime and that everyone will pay a greater price down the road. "We are running out of money, to the point where it may sound funny, but we have had to limit our stamps, paper, our supplies, it's to the point where there is not a lot more to cut", he cautions. "You start to see an increase in crime, an increase in caseloads, with a lesser staff, lesser supplies, it makes it harder for us to do our jobs," Leifman tells Gillen.

In the end, a shortfall in dollars and decisions from the legislature may lead to not only a financial show down but also potential a constitutional one. It is a fight ironically emerging from a state that served as a role model for the public defenders office nationwide.

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