Pleadings and Orders in Public Defender Case
Seeking Declaration of Rights and Clarification of Responsibilities
Supreme Court Motion to Dismiss by Executive and Legislative Branch [pdf 2.5MB]
Response to Motion to Dismiss [pdf 708KB]
Supreme Court Order Granting Motion to Dismiss [pdf 28KB]
(the below links will take you to a dropio page - click "Download" on that page to access the document)
Summary Judgment Motion and Memorandum [pdf 12MB] 
Motion to Modify Temporary Injunction [pdf 200KB]
Affidavits
A motion for summary judgment was filed on February 25th in Franklin Circuit Court in the declaratory judgment action originally filed last summer by the Department of Public Advocacy (DPA), the Louisville and Jefferson County Public Defender Corporation, and private attorneys who handle conflict cases for indigent defendants.
The action was filed in June of 2008 as public defenders began their service reductions in the face of inadequate resources and excessive caseloads. The service reductions were an effort to stay responsibly within their budgeted funds. The declaratory judgment action seeks to clarify the legal and ethical parameters under circumstances in which defender caseloads are so high that professional responsibilities and effective assistance of counsel for poor people across Kentucky are compromised and threatened.
At the beginning of the current fiscal year, DPA reduced services in order to be able to continue providing competent representation to as many needy clients as possible through the entire fiscal year while still observing and complying with the Rules of Professional Conduct as required by the Kentucky Supreme Court. However, on September 19, 2008, the Franklin Circuit Court ordered DPA to cease service reductions and provide attorneys to all of Kentucky’s indigent defendants in all cases in which court appointments were entered. It is now estimated that DPA will run out of money in late April or early May 2009, and then be unable to provide any representation whatsoever in any Court.
DPA has no control over its caseload. Public defenders cannot limit the volume of their caseloads. They must handle all those that the police arrest, the prosecutors charge, and the courts determine cannot afford counsel. Like the Corrections Department, defenders provide services to a population that is determined by someone else.
As indicated by the following rulings on the meaning of the constitutional right to counsel, public defense is a constitutional mandate that directly affects the right of due process, justice and the public safety:
- In Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963) the Court determined the federal constitutional requirement under the 6th Amendment right to counsel: if a state seeks to take away a person’s liberty through a criminal prosecution, it must provide an attorney to those too poor to hire their own.
- In Jones v. Commonwealth, 457 S.W.2d 627, 631-32 (Ky. 1970) the Court stated: “…in a case being prosecuted in a Kentucky court the state either must see that the defendant is provided counsel or it cannot proceed with the prosecution.”
- In Bradshaw v. Ball, 487 S.W.2d 294 (1972) the Court decided: No attorney can be forced to provide public defense without reasonable compensation.
On May 13, 2009, the Kentucky Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit as moot.