Legal issues seen in state budget
By Brandon Ortiz
BORTIZ@HERALD-LEADER.COM
The state's chief public defender said Wednesday that the proposed state budget is unconstitutional because it would leave thousands of poor criminal defendants without legal representation.
Even a House Democrat who helped broker the compromise budget, which cuts the state Department of Public Advocacy's budget by $2.3 million next year, says the cuts could lead to legal challenges against the state.
The budget that House and Senate leaders agreed to Tuesday allocates $37.7 million for public defenders for fiscal 2009, a $600,000 increase from the leaner Senate budget. The increase was intended to help fund the Lexington public defender office, which DPA took over last year.
Public Advocate Ernie Lewis said it would force public defenders to withdraw from misdemeanor cases. The highest misdemeanors are punishable by up to a year in jail.
The Lexington office could be severely affected, Lewis said. DPA must now decide whether to spread pain across the entire state public defender system or limit it to the newly acquired Lexington office, Lewis said.
The Lexington lawyers and staff are still on probation under state merit rules.
"One way or the other, there is going to be significant reductions in the cases we're able to handle," Lewis said.
It's too early to say whether the budget will require layoffs, Lewis said.
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