A consultant commissioned by the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense (TFID) has mapped a strategy for developing county and regional public defender offices in the state. The Blueprint for Creating a Public Defender Office in Texas, prepared by The
Spangenberg Group, an indigent defense consulting firm based in Massachusetts, was released last summer and includes contributions from lawyers and other professionals in the Texas criminal justice system.
Seven Texas counties have public defender offices: Cameron, Colorado, Dallas, El Paso, Travis, Webb and Wichita.
The study sets out legal, economic and administrative factors for counties to consider for creating their own public defender offices. Counties bear the costs of providing attorneys for criminal defendants facing charges punishable by imprisonment.
This study should “pave the road for counties and courts to make a meaningful decision on whether or not a public defender office is right for their community,” said Sharon Keller, presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and chair of the TFID. Legislators created the TFID in 2001 to improve court-provided criminal defense in Texas.
The release of the study coincided with the Task Force’s priority to finance establishment of public defender offices with an estimated $1.7 million the Legislature earmarked for indigent criminal-defense pilot projects. That money represents half of an estimated $3.4 million expected from a $65 fee State Bar members are required to contribute for indigent criminal and civil legal services.
