Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Big D public defenders need more support staff, says transplanted PD blogger

Speaking of Injustice Anywhere, in this post she described the difference in the level of office support she encountered moving from the Dallas public defender office to her new PD digs in Washington State:
At my old office in Texas, we had one office manager, one receptionist, three secretaries, six investigators, and a Spanish interpreter. These people supported the approximately 60 attorneys in the felony, misdemeanor, juvenile, and family sections. At my new office, we have an office manager, two receptionists, five investigators, one social worker, and an unknown number of legal secretaries and file clerks. These support the approximately 20 attorneys that work in our felony, misdemeanor, juvenile, and family sections. It is a huge disparity, and one of the best things about this office as compared to my previous office. Right now, I share a legal secretary with two other attorneys! Two! That's what I had when I was at my fancy schmancy civil firm. I don't know if other offices in Washington or like this or if I just lucked out big-time, but it really makes a huge difference to not have so much of my time taken up by routine paperwork and scheduling appointments.
Wow, giving attorneys responsible for indigent defense the resources to do their jobs. What a concept! I'll bet it helps process cases more quickly.

I think every county should have a PD office, with salaries and budget pegged to those at the District Attorney's office.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What you see in this article is the difference between a state where most people work and pay taxes, and a state swamped by illegals who pay little or no taxes but consume, through all the ridiculous social programs, a huge proportion of the taxes that are collected.

For the same reasons, (the flood of illegals) over all crime, especially violent crime, is much lower in Washington State, again freeing more tax money to support government services.

Enforcing immigration laws that already exist and getting control over our border would get Texas a few more go-fers for our already overpaid Lawyers. Not to mention lower crime, better schools and improved medical care.

But cheap votes for Democraps and cheap labor, ala corporate welfare for the Republicons, isn't going to let that happen.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

You know illlegal immigrants a) don't vote, b) commit fewer crimes by far than citizens, and c) pay the same taxes you do, especially Social Security, income taxes, state propery (through rental fees) and sales taxes. Right? When you work on a phony social security card, the employer still must take out the requisite portion for Uncle Sam.

I don't think immigrants have anything to do with this problem. At all. It's just another straw man.

Anonymous said...

You know illlegal immigrants a) don't vote,

ROTFLMAO I just took my 19 yr old daughter to register Mon. They didn't even want to see a drivers licence. Just asked questions and took her at her word. She could have been from Mars.

b) commit fewer crimes by far than citizens,

ROTFLMAO, again not as a percentage and you know it.

and c) pay the same taxes you do, especially Social Security, income taxes, state propery (through rental fees) and sales taxes. Right?

Wrong. So these people being paid paltry salaries to aid republicon sponsored corporate greed, and who have what, an average of 5 or 6 kids pay income tax. Give me a break.

Yeah they might pay a little sales tax and SS but they cost the tax payer much more than they give. They overload our hospitals driving up our health care costs, our schools are continuing to decline, all public services are being swamped. Be honest.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

Celtic, your comments are so misinformed I'm not going to bother this time. You've hijacked the thread and are debating arguments not in the post. What's more your comments are all flat out factually false,and all previously refuted on this blog with references - especially immigrants committing fewer crimes PERCENTAGE-wise, etc.

Please keep your comments to the subject of the posts - if you want to hijack them for your own purposes, write on your own blog.

Anonymous said...

The salary disparity between public defenders and prosecutors in Dallas County is atrocious. The lack of support staff also falls far below any standard I've ever seen for PD offices. Unfortunately, given that the county has not addressed the issue in a meaningful way in the 20+ years the office has been in existence, the situation is not likely to change unless the legislature acts to require resource and salary parity.