Cordele to test public defender reform

By Bill Rankin
February 14, 2004

Georgia's new public defender system will get its first test in a South Georgia judicial circuit that has been sued for allegedly failing to protect the rights of poor people charged with crimes.

The Georgia Public Defender Standards Council decided Friday to establish a new public defender office in the four-county Cordele Judicial Circuit. The so-called "pilot project," for Ben Hill, Crisp, Dooly and Wilcox counties, is to be up and running in April.

"We are going to make this work," said Mike Mears, the council's director. "We are not going to let it fail."

In legislation approved by landslide votes a year ago, the General Assembly reformed the state's long-criticized and neglected indigent defense system. The bill calls for a new statewide public defender system to begin operating in January 2005.

Before the legislation was enacted, a lawsuit was filed against the Cordele circuit alleging that indigent defendants are processed through its courts without proper representation. The litigation has uncovered a number of examples of defendants who sat in jail for months without ever seeing a lawyer.

One defendant, Samuel Moore, arrested in December 2001 for alleged loitering and then charged with selling drugs, sat in the Crisp County jail for 13 months without ever seeing a lawyer. Even worse, according to court documents, Moore spent his final four months in jail after all the charges against him had been dismissed.

"This action offers enormous promise that fairness will finally come to the courts in these four counties," said Stephen Bright, the lead lawyer in the lawsuit against the Cordele circuit. "People won't be languishing in jail for weeks or months without seeing a lawyer or knowing what to expect in their cases."

Bright said he might "reassess" his lawsuit against the circuit, because of the Cordele agreement. "It certainly appears that Mike Mears and his colleagues could end the problems we're concerned about," he said.

Ben Hill County Commission Chairman Larry E. Davis said he is determined to make sure the project is a success. "We want this to be a model for the whole state of Georgia to look at," Davis said.

Fitzgerald lawyer Bobby Chasteen, who sits on a committee overseeing Cordele's program, said counties are depending on the Legislature to fund the new system. "This is an opportunity for us to go forward and for the council to see where the bumps in the road are with these new programs," said Chasteen, also a former president of the State Bar of Georgia.

Cordele's current system has three lawyers handling felony, misdemeanor and juvenile cases on a contract basis. They are paid a set amount of money no matter how many cases they are assigned. They also must attend to their private practices.

The new public defender program will employ three full-time defenders, an investigator and an office administrator. Ben Hill County will provide office space in Fitzgerald. A satellite office in Vienna, at the northern tip of the circuit, is expected.

The council will spend $304,973 for the nine-month project. The four counties also have set aside $190,000 for indigent defense this year.

Emmet Bondurant, chairman of the new public defender council, said his agency will ensure that the circuit's new defenders will meet their clients within 72 hours after they are charged and taken into custody. "We want to make this system a heck of a lot better than it is now," Bondurant said.

Court administrator Nolan Martin praised the council for taking on the new challenge.

"I think they've captured the moral high ground," Martin said. "They've rolled up their sleeves and said, 'How can we help you?' We're very excited about it."

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