P.D.'s don't need more $ - the D.A. said so!

The Kentucky brothers and sisters are pulling out all the stops. I admire the dedication, but really, when the going gets this tough, the tough get caller ID:

- "Allen Graf, a public defender in Bowling Green, said he's given up trying to talk to clients during the day and instead allows them to call him — collect — at his home in the evening."

- "Public defender Harolyn Howard said the caseload in Pikeville is so high she sometimes sleeps on a couch on her office when she works late at night preparing for a trial. She doesn't have time to get ready for trials during the day because she's either in court on other cases or meeting with clients, she said."

- "One recent morning, public defender Krsna Tibbs ran from courtroom to courtroom, representing about a half-dozen people in Jefferson District Court. With clients waiting, Tibbs had yet another case, a man charged with multiple domestic violence offenses, theft and traffic violations. But the judge wanted a trial within the hour. The client spoke only Spanish, and Tibbs couldn't find an interpreter."

Meanwhile in Baton Rouge, one brave prosecutor speaks out against the Sixth Amendment: Taxpayers shouldn't pay to defend poor people accused of crimes, he says. Out of touch with the mainstream? They report, you decide.