Unequal Defense, Chapter VI: The Gathering

"A lawsuit alleging that Central Washington's Grant County provides inadequate representation to criminal defendants received a crucial boost yesterday when a judge ruled that the plaintiffs can be lumped together into a class-action proceeding."

"In support of their motion for class certification, the attorneys challenging Grant County wrote: 'Hundreds of indigent people face criminal proceedings in Grant County at any given time. They share the same concerns and fears, namely, that they will be left in the lurch by lawyers, who are too overworked, underpaid, under-experienced, or under-supervised to offer effective assistance (or even return phone calls).'"

(In an ultimately related story, more on the current Grant County murder case involving two 12- and 13- year defendants can be found here.)