Thursday, December 08, 2005

Hamilton County Public Defender's Office

If Hamilton County commissioners and Lou Strigari, Hamilton County’s Public Defender, get their way, Hamilton County will be getting its own felony representation division for persons unable to afford counsel on their own, which will relieve the overwhelming caseload that strains that Office and those like it, according to an article in Wednesday’s Cincinnati Enquirer.(Article appeared in paper format, but not online).

Cuyahoga County’s public defender’s office, for one, has a special felonies division already.

Right of an accused in criminal proceedings to legal counsel includes that of indigent persons under the Sixth Amendment, but that’s abridged to felonies and offenses where the accused could be sentenced to imprisonment if found guilty.(Am Jur.,Criminal Law §1197)

Each of the states have some sort of public advocacy system, but there are differences in administration, procedure, etc. (Statutory links to Ohio, Indiana & Kentucky).

No comments: