By Michael Tartaglia and Kourtney Kinchen 6AC presents this year in review to acknowledge the most significant reforms to how the right to counsel is funded and delivered across the United States. We wish all our readers a happy and…
Tag: Texas
2021 Year in Review
Tagged with: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, caseloads & workloads, Colorado, Connecticut, criminal justice reform, funding, Idaho, Illinois, indigency - criteria, juvenile delinquencies & status offenses, juvenile transfer hearings, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin
Why the State of Texas is responsible for denying counsel to indigent people in Amarillo
Pleading the Sixth: More than 74% of all misdemeanor defendants in Potter County, Texas (Amarillo) face the possibility of jail time without the aid of a lawyer, due to sheriff’s deputies, county prosecutors, and trial court judges exerting direct, overt…
Indiana stands as a cautionary tale for other states with similar indigent defense system models
Pleading the Sixth: On October 24, 2016, the Sixth Amendment Center released its report detailing how the “Indiana Model” for defender services leads to the actual denial of counsel and/or the provision of a lawyer in name only throughout the state.…
Texas judges ask out of indigent defense oversight
Pleading the Sixth: In an effort to meet the American Bar Association’s Ten Principles, judges in Travis County, Texas (Austin) created a plan to remove themselves from the oversight and administration of public defense services. Will the proposed “managed assigned…
Williamson County TX settles “no counsel court” lawsuit
Pleading the Sixth: Williamson County, Texas settled a class action lawsuit alleging that judges engaged in a “systematic and deliberate scheme” to deprive “persons accused of misdemeanor offenses of their right to be represented by counsel.” By agreeing to set…
New reports promote public defender model for Texas
Pleading the Sixth: Two new independent reports out of Texas conclude that the public defender model provides better, more cost-efficient representation than the assigned counsel model. In a companion piece, a 2011 U.S. Department of Justice report makes the same argument.…
Tagged with: assigned counsel, conflicts, DOJ, Harris County TX, public defender office, standards, Ten Principles, Texas, Wichita County TX
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