Indigent felony defendants in many counties have lacked court-appointed lawyers before indictment, even while they sat in jails for weeks or months.
This Mississippi Court Appoints Lawyers for Just 1 in 5 Defendants Before Indictment
Mississippi is known as one of the worst states for public defense. In one lower court, most defendants went without any lawyer before indictment.
Mississippi public defenders could curb incarcerations - Mississippi Today
What Mississippi needs is a state-level public defender mandate establishing clear, enforceable standards that apply in every jurisdiction: standards for compensation and expenses, for workload, for when counsel first meets a client, for continuity of representation through all stages of a case.
Why Mississippi Courts Must Produce Public Defense Plans
The state Supreme Court wants to know how local courts provide lawyers, if any, to poor people after their arrest.
Mississippi public defender system varies widely by county, court plans show
In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Gideon v. Wainwright that the Sixth Amendment requires states to provide lawyers to criminal defendants who cannot afford one. Mississippi delegates that responsibility to counties, a system civil rights attorneys say is inconsistent and ineffective.
Mississippi Courts Won’t Say How They Provide Lawyers for Poor Clients
Six years ago, the Mississippi Supreme Court told judges around the state to file plans showing how they meet their obligations to poor defendants. So far, only one has.
Adequate indigent defense should be a top priority
This past weekend, I published a story for The Commonwealth assessing Mississippi’s 23 circuit court districts’ indigent defense plans — that is how each of those courts provides lawyers to indigent, or poor, criminal defendants charged with a felony who can’t afford their own counsel.
Many Mississippi Courts Unprepared to Give All Poor Defendants Lawyers
A rule requiring poor criminal defendants to have a lawyer throughout the criminal process took effect Saturday.
Advocates urge for higher pay for public defenders - Mississippi Today
On Tuesday, members of Defend Mississippi – a statewide group receiving support from national criminal justice advocates – gathered to make the case for why the Hinds County Board of Supervisors should appropriate $350,000 to the Hinds County Public Defender’s Office.
Hinds County gives public defenders temporary pay boost - Mississippi Today
A roughly $261,000 boost to the Hinds County Public Defender’s Office will narrow the pay gap between the county’s prosecutors and public defenders for the next six months.
Hinds public defender: Office needs additional funding to avert constitutional crisis - Mississippi Today
Hinds County public defender says supervisors should approve a funding increase to honor the constitutional promise that justice does not depend on wealth.
Mississippi - Sixth Amendment Center
The state of Mississippi delegates to its local governments all responsibility for funding and administering indigent defense service in adult criminal trials, except for some case types where the state provides services. The state has no commission providing oversight of indigent defense services.
Why Mississippi Nixed Fixing Its Broken Public Defense System
With its refusal to impose oversight or consistent standards in local defense, Mississippi risks falling further behind the rest of the U.S., critics say.
Watch These Judges Rip Into Lawyers For Citing Cases That Don't Exist
“It's striking, concerning, disappointing, and saddening to think that members of the bar would forward cases to a court that don't exist, and to think that the lawyers on the other side of that didn’t read it for whatever reason, didn’t check it.”
Former SPLC official charged in Justice Department's broader criminal case against group
A former Southern Poverty Law Center official has been charged in the Department of Justice’s broader criminal case against the Alabama-based civil rights group, a frequent target of conservative critics who claim the nonprofit is politically biased.
Massachusetts prosecutors run on dial-up-era software
I asked all 11 Massachusetts DAs for their case data. Six million charges came back. The system holding them is "obsolete" — and its replacement is being bought right now, in silence.
Defense, like prosecution, should be funded by state
When America’s Founding Fathers were debating the Constitution, they realized that it didn’t do enough to protect individual rights.