Senate panel to scrutinize state public defender system

About seven months after an independent study found that the Missouri State Public Defender system is in crisis, a Senate interim committee has been created to examine the system and make recommendations to improve it.

The committee, which comprises three Republicans and two Democrats, will report its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly by Jan. 26. Dan Gralike, the deputy director of the state public defender office, said he was encouraged by the news of the committee’s formation.

“We hope it will inform the legislature that there is a continual, critical problem in the public defender system that deserves their attention and consideration of possible solutions,” Gralike said.

The state system employs about 350 lawyers and had a caseload of about 90,000 in 2005, according to the public defender office’s annual report for that year. That’s one lawyer for about every 257 cases, about 9 percent higher than the standard of one lawyer for every 235 cases that was used to staff the public defender system in 1989.

The number of lawyers on staff has not increased in the past five years while penalties for certain offenses have become harsher, Gralike said.

“Some of the tougher sentencing laws and the increase in legislation pertaining to drug offenses and sex offenses have increased our caseload dramatically,” he said.

Gralike said another problem is the difficulty of finding lawyers willing to settle for a salary lower than what they would make in the private sector. He said he hopes the committee will consider increasing lawyers’ salaries and providing student loan forgiveness as incentives to work as a public defender.

Committee member Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, said that the committee would probably consider loan forgiveness as an option and that a similar program is provided for some nurses in Missouri.

“I don’t think anything is off the table,” he said.

Committee chairman Sen. Jack Goodman, R-Mount Vernon, said the committee was formed because the Senate recognized there were problems with the system that needed to be addressed. But he said the legislature would not dole out more funds without good reason.

“This administration is committed to running an efficient, responsible government,” Goodman said. “We need to see that there is a real problem and make sure we’ve done all we can to improve the system before we blindly put more money into it.”