FL: pinchy in P'cola

The Florida p.d. crisis has spread to Lower Alabama, from the Pensacola News-Journal:

Public defenders feeling the pinch

The Public Defender’s Office in Pensacola may begin turning away hundreds of poor clients who qualify for its services saying the office is understaffed, underfunded and overwhelmed with cases.

“We were already under-funded and under-budgeted before,” Public Defender Jack Behr said... In the past two years, Behr said his office lost $895,000 from its budget and was forced to leave six positions unfilled...