In a bitterly divided General Assembly, it
was a supposedly unpopular cause that brought lawmakers together
this session.
In two landslide votes Friday, the House and Senate agreed to
establish a new statewide system designed to ensure quality
representation for poor people accused of crimes. The new public
defender system is to be up and running in 2005 and have an
oversight board that enforces performance standards.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Tom Bordeaux (D-Savannah)
called the bill's passage extraordinary, given the difficulty
lawmakers had in agreeing on much of anything.
"It's like finding a pristine porcelain doll in the rubble of a
wartorn battlefield," Bordeaux said. "It's been truly remarkable."
But at times during the session, enactment of the reform bill
seemed anything but certain.
Momentum had been building. A year ago, the State Bar of
Georgia's board of governors overwhelmingly approved a resolution
calling for a statewide public defender system. In December, a
Georgia Supreme Court commission found the state's system often
results in "serious unfairness in the operation of the criminal
justice system." It also recommended sweeping reform.
In February, the Senate quickly and unanimously approved
legislation that closely followed recommendations by the Supreme
Court commission.
House Speaker Terry Coleman then dropped a bombshell by
introducing legislation calling for public defenders to run for
election. During a daylong committee hearing, that controversial
proposal prompted more than a dozen witnesses to testify against
elections.
A day after the Legislative Black Caucus voted against the idea,
Coleman announced that he was backing off his plan. Instead, he said
he would agree to allow public defenders to be appointed by local
committees.
That decision made passage of the reform bill possible,
legislators said.
"The speaker said, 'I want to make this happen,' " said Rep.
Dubose Porter (D-Dublin), who shepherded Coleman's bill through the
House. "That made all the difference."
The threat of a federal court taking over Georgia's dysfunctional
indigent defense system also was on legislators' minds.
In late March, the Southern Center for Human Rights filed suit
against the four-county Cordele Judicial Circuit in South Georgia
and alleged that criminal defendants there are processed through
court without proper legal representation.
When the House considered Coleman's bill in early March, Bordeaux
held up the Cordele lawsuit during floor debate.
The bill passed overwhelmingly.
The legislation then went to a six-member House-Senate conference
committee, where another major snag developed.
A few well-funded, highly regarded programs, such as those in
Cobb and Gwinnett counties, wanted to be allowed to opt out of the
new system and keep their current systems. Coleman again
compromised, agreeing to allow a few counties to be exempted,
provided they fully fund their own programs.
That agreement led to the bill's approval Friday by both
chambers.
Gary Parker, a criminal defense lawyer and former state senator,
said support for indigent defense long has been at the bottom of the
legislative agenda.
"It's just so ironic that something at the bottom would rise to
the top and be the true bright star arising from this General
Assembly," Parker said. "It's been a very good thing."
