This week,
the state Senate will consider one of the most important bills of the
session: Senate Bill 102, which would reform Georgia's shameful system
of providing lawyers to poor criminal defendants. Gov. Sonny Perdue has
already made reform of indigent defense a high priority. And last
Friday, the speaker of the House announced that he, too, will support
fundamental reform.
The proposed reforms do not provide gold-plated legal defense
for the poor, as a few detractors claim; rather, they guarantee the
constitutional legal representation -- decent lawyers -- that the U.S.
Supreme Court decreed essential 40 years ago. (In Georgia, 80 percent of
those accused of crimes can't afford a private lawyer.)
The result of a two-year study, SB 102 replaces 159 often inadequate
county systems with 49 appointed circuit public defenders. They would be
overseen by a new 15-member state board that will demand uniform
standards of representation.
Terry Coleman, House speaker, has said he will introduce a competing
bill that differs in that it proposes that public defenders should be
elected. Both Florida and Tennessee elect public defenders, and both are
ahead of Georgia in providing justice for the poor. But further debate
and study will be needed to determine whether appointed or elected
public defenders provide the best model for this state.
Coleman also supports funding the system of public defenders through
local court fees and punitive damage awards that currently go to the
state. While the governor admirably doubled the state's share of
indigent defense in a lean budget year, those funds aren't nearly
enough. A different funding source, such as that Coleman proposes, is
needed to guarantee a workable indigent defense system.
Meanwhile, the full Senate ought to make one change in the version of
SB 102 passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee
modified the bill so that the governor, rather the state Supreme Court,
will make the vast majority of appointments to a new statewide Indigent
Defense Board, which will have oversight over the public defender
system.
The change means the governor would have the votes to fire a public
defender. The oversight of defense, like that of the prosecution,
belongs under the judicial branch. The governor says he is open to
compromise, so the Senate should return a majority of board appointments
to the court.
Two years ago, when the Indigent Defense Commission began its study,
few would have predicted that the state's most influential leaders would
support dramatic reform. The Legislature is surprisingly close to
approving a model indigent defense system. Having come this far, it's
important that elected officials put turf battles aside and get it
right.
