Indigent Defense Bill Advances
Senate OKs Aid For Counties to Help Ensure Good Lawyers for Poor Defendants

By John Moritz and Max B. Baker
Star-Telegram
April 10, 2001

AUSTIN -- The Senate approved an overhaul Tuesday of the state's indigent legal defense system, which has been ridiculed nationally because of lawyers who slept through trials and attorneys who were assigned life-or-death cases while they were facing discipline.

"I characterize this bill as a major step in the right direction," said Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, sponsor of the Texas Fair Defense Act.

"Over the past few years, the glare of the spotlight on our justice system has been harsh. The Texas Fair Defense Act balances the scales of justice to ensure that poor Texans are not sentenced to a poor defense," Ellis added.

The legislation, Senate Bill 7, would put up $19.7 million in state grants to the 254 counties to help them pay for court- appointed lawyers. The counties already spend about $90 million annually on defense lawyers for the poor.

Under the bill, defendants could request a lawyer when they appear before a magistrate after being arrested. The defendants would also have to be taken before the magistrate within 48 hours of their arrest.

The bill, which now goes to the House, would require large counties to appoint an attorney for an indigent defendant within one working day. Counties with populations under 250,000 would have three working days. Attorneys would be required to make reasonable efforts to contact their client within 24 hours.

Counties could create a rotation of lawyers to serve as court-appointed attorneys or could establish a public defender's office. Small counties could pool resources to develop regional public defender offices.

The measure would also establish a task force to develop standards for lawyers who want to be appointed to cases. Judge George Gallagher, who presides over the 396th State District Court in Fort Worth, said most Tarrant County judges "keep a pretty close eye" on whom they appoint.

But appointing an attorney within one working day could be a problem, Gallagher said. It is not uncommon for someone to be arrested and make a court appearance before final charges are filed, he said. Currently, prisoners sit in jail a week to 10 days before being appointed an attorney.

"It feels like a done deal to me," said Rusty Hubbarth, vice president of Justice for All, a victims advocate group in Houston. "We think it's a good idea. We feel it is necessary to ensure justice in Texas."

Texas has been criticized for being one of the four states that does not put up money for lawyers for indigent defendants and for not having statewide standards governing qualifications for appointed lawyers.


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