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Missouri State Public Defender (MSPD) provides legal representation to indigent individuals accused or convicted of crimes in Missouri at the levels of the state trial court, state appellate court, Missouri Supreme Court, and the United States Supreme Court.
The constitutional requirement for the public defender system at all levels of government was established in 1963 by Gideon v. Wainwright . The Missouri State Public Defender System was established in 1972. By 1973, there were 14 public defender offices in the state of Missouri. In 1976, the Public Defender Commission was created to appoint full-time public defenders to four-year terms and to oversee the system. Legal representation was provided for felony, juvenile, and misdemeanor cases when the offence charged could result in jail time. By 1977, the total number of public defender offices had reached 18. [1]
In 1982, a house bill amended the system with the creation of the Office of State Public Defender (OSPD) as an independent department of the judicial branch of state government. By 1987, 23 public defender offices existed and employed 233 people. The remainder of the state was served by contracts with private attorneys. At that time, the system provided representation in more than 41,000 cases annually. [1]
On August 2, 2016, Michael Barrett, who was then serving as director of the Missouri State Public Defender System, called on then-governor Jay Nixon to act as a public defender in a criminal assault case. Nixon's communications director, Scott Holste, questioned the authority of Barrett to do so. [2]
The appointment followed a July 2016 legal action in which Barrett et al. challenge the constitutionality of restricting funds for indigent defense. [3] On December 26, 2017, Judge Victor Howard ruled that "because the public defender does not exercise judicial power, a withholding of expenditures to it by the governor (the executive) does not violate the separation of powers doctrine." [4] In an open letter to Nixon, Barrett cites Missouri Revised Statues Section 600.042.5(1) [5] as well as the 6th and 14th amendments to the United States Constitution as reason for the controversial action. Barrett blames Nixon for the underfunding and understaffing of the public defender system and chose to appoint him because he is "the one attorney in the state who not only created the problem, but is in a unique position to address it." [6] According to Barrett, the funding for "resources that assist with delivering legal services" have increased between 5 and 6% since 2009, while costs over the same period have increased 18%. The case load has increased by over 12% in the past year. [7] According to a 2008 report by the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, Missouri ranks 49th in per capita legal aid spending. [8] Ruth Petsch, Jackson County Missouri’s chief public defender, cites the lack funding for inadequate defense and 9 to 12 month delays in adjudication for indigent persons who often remain in jail and are unable to maintain active employment during that time. [9]
Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires U.S. states to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who are unable to afford their own. The case extended the right to counsel, which had been found under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to impose requirements on the federal government, by imposing those requirements upon the states as well.
Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to counsel and the right to a fair trial. This article describes the development of legal aid and its principles, primarily as known in Europe, the Commonwealth of Nations and in the United States.
A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Belgium, Hungary and Singapore, and some states of Australia. Brazil is the only country in which an office of government-paid lawyers with the specific purpose of providing full legal assistance and representation to the needy free of charge is established in the constitution. The Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, requires the US government to provide legal counsel to indigent defendants in criminal cases. Public defenders in the United States are lawyers employed by or under contract with county, state or federal governments.
Kenny Charles Hulshof is an American politician and lawyer who represented Missouri's 9th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He was the unsuccessful nominee of the Republican Party for Governor of Missouri in the 2008 election.
Bruce Robert Jacob is a former Assistant Attorney General for the State of Florida during the early 1960s. He represented Louie L. Wainwright, the Director of the Florida Division of Corrections, in the Supreme Court case of Gideon v. Wainwright, decided in March 1963, regarding the right to counsel of indigent defendants in non-capital felony cases in state courts. The attorney representing the Petitioner, Clarence Gideon, was Abe Fortas, a Washington, D.C. lawyer who later became a Justice of the Supreme Court. The previous 1942 Supreme Court case of Betts v. Brady required the appointment of counsel for an indigent defendant at state expense if there was a “special circumstance” present in the case which made it necessary for counsel to be provided for the defendant to receive a fair trial. For example, if the defendant was indigent and was extremely young, or lacked education or experience, was unfamiliar with court procedures, or if the charges against him were complex, the trial court was required under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to appoint counsel. Jacob argued against any extension of the defendant's right to counsel. The Court in Gideon overruled Betts and required state courts to appoint attorneys for defendants in all felony prosecutions.
The Legal Aid Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit legal aid provider based in New York City. Founded in 1876, it is the oldest and largest provider of legal aid in the United States. Its attorneys provide representation on criminal and civil matters in both individual cases and class action lawsuits. The organization is funded through a combination of public grants and private donations. It is the largest recipient of funding among regional legal aid providers from the New York City government and is the city's primary legal services provider.
Jeremiah Wilson "Jay" Nixon is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 55th governor of Missouri from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the governorship in 2008 and reelected in 2012. Prior to his tenure as Missouri Governor, he served as the 40th Missouri Attorney General from 1993 to 2009. After leaving public office he joined the Dowd Bennett law firm in St. Louis. As of 2023, he is the most recent Democrat to serve as the Governor of Missouri.
In criminal law, the right to counsel means a defendant has a legal right to have the assistance of counsel and, if the defendant cannot afford a lawyer, requires that the government appoint one or pay the defendant's legal expenses. The right to counsel is generally regarded as a constituent of the right to a fair trial. Historically, however, not all countries have always recognized the right to counsel. The right is often included in national constitutions. Of the 194 constitutions currently in force, 153 have language to this effect.
The Office of the Missouri Attorney General was created in 1806 when Missouri was part of the Louisiana Territory. Missouri's first Constitution in 1820 provided for an appointed attorney general, but since the 1865 Constitution, the Attorney General has been elected. As of January 2023, there have been 44 attorneys general in Missouri.
In the United States, federal public defender organizations are entities in the United States Federal Government, and their staffs are federal employees. Federal public defenders handle criminal trials in United States Federal Court for alleged federal crimes or criminal cases involving state law violations in which a federal court can assert federal jurisdiction.
The Bronx Defenders is a public defender office located in the South Bronx neighborhood of New York City. At the Bronx Defenders, criminal defense lawyers work together with civil lawyers, family defense lawyers, immigration lawyers, non-attorney advocates, social workers, and investigators to help their clients address the full range of legal and social issues that can result from criminal charges.
The headquarters of the Maryland Office of the Public Defender is located in the William Donald Schaefer Tower; Suite 1400, 6 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21202. Natasha Dartigue is the Public Defender.
The Public Defender Service (PDS) for the District of Columbia provides legal defense to individuals on a court-appointed basis for criminal and delinquency cases indigent adult and juvenile defendants/ respondents. Its Mental Health Division provides representation to persons facing involuntary civil commitment based on allegations that the person is a danger to self or others as a result of mental illness. Its parole division represents parolees charged with violating parole and facing revocation before the United States Parole Commission. PDS also provides other legal-related services in DC.
In the United States, a public defender is a lawyer appointed by the courts and provided by the state or federal governments to represent and advise those who cannot afford to hire a private attorney. Public defenders are full-time attorneys employed by the state or federal governments. The public defender program is one of several types of criminal legal aid in the United States.
Michael G. Millman was an American criminal defense lawyer, founder of the California Appellate Project, and an anti-death penalty activist.
Vida B. Johnson is an American criminal defense attorney and associate professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. Johnson works in the Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy Clinic and Criminal Justice Clinic, and supervises attorneys in the E. Barrett Prettyman Post-Graduate Fellowship Program. Johnson regularly writes in the area of criminal law and procedure.
The Orleans Public Defenders (OPD) office provides legal assistance to individuals charged with a crime in New Orleans, Louisiana state courts who are financially unable to retain private counsel. Courts within their jurisdiction include the Louisiana District Courts, Juvenile and Family Courts, Louisiana Circuit Courts of Appeal, and the Louisiana Supreme Court. Orleans Parish District Attorney prosecutes alleged felony and misdemeanor violations of Louisiana state law that occur within the jurisdiction of New Orleans. Alleged federal law violations by indigent defendants are prosecuted and defended in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Legal aid in Germany is "embedded in the court system and is seen as a part of this". Germany was the first country to provide free legal aid representation for the poor in 1919, and represents the archetype of the so-called judicare system.
The San Francisco Public Defender's Office is an agency of the Government of San Francisco. Since 1921, it has provided legal assistance to indigent individuals charged with violations of California state law by the San Francisco District Attorney's Office.
The Virginia Indigent Defense Commission (VIDC) provides legal defense to those accused of crimes unable to afford a private lawyer. VIDC operates 28 offices across the Commonwealth of Virginia. VIDC also manages the certification of public defenders and court-appointed attorneys throughout Virginia and provides training to defense attorneys.
