Are Missouri lawmakers finally ready to fix unconstitutional public defender system?

When Missouri lawmakers begin work on the 2021 state budget Wednesday, they’ll tackle important issues, including education, health care and transportation.

This year, they also must address the crisis in Missouri’s public defender system.

Gov. Mike Parson and the legislature can make inroads by fully funding the office’s request of $61 million. That’s roughly two-tenths of one percent of the overall state budget.

Fully funding the office would mark an important step in fixing Missouri’s ongoing denial of basic representation for indigent defendants.

A recent Kansas City Star investigation uncovered the depths of the dysfunction in the public defender system and the urgent need for additional resources. The state violates defendants’ rights to adequate counsel every day, The Star found.

More than 5,000 defendants were on quasi-legal “wait lists” at one point last year, their cases delayed until a lawyer became available. Today, postponements and continuances are routine — and they ruin lives.

Some defendants languish in jail for months, eventually entering guilty pleas just to end the uncertainty.. “You … have people going to prison that shouldn’t be,” said Jeffrey Martin, who runs the public defender’s office for Cass, Johnson, Bates, Henry and St. Clair counties.

Judges have suggested some defendants handle their own cases, without a lawyer. Others have issued ill-considered orders requiring defenders to take new cases, even at the risk of violating state ethics rules.

Just weeks ago, the public defenders in St. Joseph asked a judge to grant them relief. Each lawyer in the office takes more than 200 cases a year.

Public defenders lack sufficient investigative resources. Turnover is high, and morale is low. Justice is often an afterthought.

“The justice system is like an ostrich with its head in the sand, choosing to ignore the plight of the poor people charged with crimes and making a mockery of the right to counsel,” said Matthew Crowell, a public defender in central Missouri.

Legislators and the governor may believe they are protecting taxpayers by underfunding the public defenders. In fact, Missouri’s haphazard system costs more than it should because hundreds of defendants remain in custody waiting for a lawyer.

It’s appalling. And it should outrage every Missourian because the problem can be solved.

In October, the Missouri State Public Defenders Commission submitted a budget request of $61 million, roughly 20% more than the current $51 million budget. The reasonable proposal includes an additional $3.3 million to reduce wait lists across the state.

The commission says it needs a $2.3 million increase to hire more private attorneys to take indigent cases. It needs $1.2 million to improve its technology. It wants to open an appellate office in Springfield. All are necessary.

To be clear: More money is just a first step. This year, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt should end his effort to derail a settlement in the continuing federal legal challenge to the public defender system.

Schmitt has repeatedly said his duty is to “defend the Constitution,” yet he countenances — indeed, actively endorses — an unconstitutional public defender system in the state. He must stand down.

There is a temptation to suggest that the public defender crisis is only a problem in urban areas. The opposite is true: Rural courtrooms are clogged with indigent cases, putting a strain on the courts, lawyers, law enforcement and the lives of those only suspected of crimes.

Rural legislators, the governor and urban lawmakers must bring an end to this unjust, unconstitutional system in 2020. That work begins Wednesday.