From Kentucky.com:
Public advocate Lewis to retire
Public advocate Ernie Lewis plans to retire Sept. 1, leaving behind a department that he says “will be significantly under funded” because of recent budget cuts. The Department of Public Advocacy announced Lewis’ retirement on Wednesday. He has been with the department for 31 years, and served as a public advocate for 12 years...
Update: Jon Katz, In praise of Ernie Lewis
Meth is messing with the court system in western Kentucky, along with its attendant thefts and forged checks charges. Public defender caseloads are estimated to hit an average 500 new cases per attorney by the end of this year.
The article reports that the commonwealth attorney and the p.d. are vying for the title of "Most Overworked Public Servant."
Ernie Lewis, head of the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy admired by me (but not apparently by a disgruntled DPA insider) is quoted:
For Ernie Lewis, it means accepting a different, but equally harsh reality, the possibility that defendants under the counsel of his office may plead guilty to crimes they didn't commit.
Plea deals are a healthy part of the legal process, Lewis says, but "the caseload problem encourages plea negotiations." Some cases, he says, end up in a plea deal when a trial is justified. But the hours involved for both the public defender and the prosecutor may make a jury trial virtually impossible. That leads Lewis to his "greatest fear" as head of the public defender system, "people are ending up entering a guilty plea when they are in fact not guilty of what they're charged with."
Towering caseloads for both sides, he says, creates "an immense incentive to resolve the case with a guilty plea."
This is the home-brewed poison that corrodes everything it touches: the cops, the clients, their kids, and the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments.
Seems to be a lot of legislative false economizing going on nationwide. From Kentucky.com:
Chief public defender takes case to judges - asks state to pay for private lawyers for defendants
The state's chief public defender is asking judges to order the state... to pay for private lawyers for some poor criminal defendants because his agency can no longer afford to represent them.
In a letter to judges released Wednesday (pdf file), public advocate Ernie Lewis warned that public defenders will begin refusing certain types of cases starting July 1 as a result of the $2.3 million budget cut approved this spring by the General Assembly. Lewis said the Department of Public Advocacy cannot afford to fill about 40 vacancies. With caseloads already at unethically high levels, Lewis said, public defenders cannot take on additional cases...
Ernie Lewis is a PD's PD. He's built a statewide program in Kentucky that's a model for the rest of the country, he's an outstanding lawyer, manager, trainer, and miracle worker, and he does it all while being one of the most courtly and least self-impressed people who you're ever likely to meet in the law.
Lewis has been with the Department of Public Advocacy since he graduated from law school in 1977. This month he was re-appointed by the governor for a third term as Public Advocate for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. In 1996, when he was first sworn in, Lewis said, "I ask you to judge me by the vision of the right to counsel." Eight years later, you can see for yourself how the vision's been met, at several DPA webpages.
I know you've all seen this about David Barron, front-runner for 2008 Criminal Defense Lawyer of the Year:
Public Defender Builds Injection Case
I just wanted to mention that this mentor of his...
"It's an uphill battle," said Ernie Lewis, head of the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy. "We can't provide an O.J. defense."
...was one of my NCDC instructors, just like 2007's Criminal Defense Lawyer of the Year, David Terrell.
Big thanks to Jeff Sherr and his Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy blawg for linking to me today. I've been a fan of DPA and the Ernie Lewis way ever since 1998 and NCDC (National Criminal Defense College - ask your boss to send you), when my partner was Elizabeth from the DPA LaGrange office.
Thanks also for the link to this spat, where the head PD (not from Kentucky) says that his office, not a judge, decides who is or is not represented, and the judge replies, "The public defender's office seems to do everything they can not to represent people. If they want to declare war on me, they've got it."
Uh-oh. Why any PD would get into this kind of pissing match is not immediately apparent.
