The state House Judiciary Committee was scheduled to hold a hearing today in Lansing on recommendations to help ensure consistent, qualified and cost-effective legal counsel is provided to low-income criminal defendants in Michigan.
The panel meets July 18 at 9:30 a.m. in room 521 of the House Office Building, 124 N. Capitol Ave. in Lansing, said Rep. John Walsh, R-Livonia, committee chair.
The report, compiled by the 14-member Indigent Defense Advisory Commission, contains recommendations to overcome challenges to Michigan’s public defense system. The commission was appointed in October 2011 by Gov. Rick Snyder.
“We look forward to hearing the recommendations of this bipartisan panel that spent months reviewing data, resources and viewpoints to determine how we can better serve low-income defendants,” said Rep.
John Walsh, R-Livonia. “The current shortfalls in competent indigent legal representation result in errors at the trial level, leaving the hard-working taxpayers of Michigan exposed to the possibility of millions of dollars in unnecessary expense in the worst-case scenarios.”
State Rep. Tom McMillin, who served on the Indigent Defense Advisory Commission, said he will introduce legislation to make the temporary panel permanent so it can implement the recommendations in the report and continue to improve indigent defense.
“A permanent commission, housed in the judicial branch, will help put our recommendations into action, set standards to help overcome the challenges Michigan's public defense system currently faces and ensure local governments are adhering to them,” said McMillin, R-Rochester Hills.
Michigan has traditionally delegated indigent legal aid responsibilities to county governments, he said, but failure to provide clear guidelines has resulted in an uncoordinated, 83-county piecemeal system of service delivery.
“Michigan is currently ranked 44th in the nation in per-capita spending on indigent defense representation, and that is simply unacceptable,” Walsh said. “This is a matter regarding a right to counsel guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution, and it is our duty to ensure this right is not abridged. We can and must do better.”
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