HL: Public defenders sue state over funding [updated with link to copy of complaint]

From Herald Leader is story about public defender's suit of budget funding.  If anyone emails me a copy of the complaint filed, I will post it to this story. {updated with link to copy of complaint by clicking here!  Many thanks to one of our readers!!!  Although I must confess the method of making this point is difficult to grasp, the point to be made is clear.  Plus a similarly framed lawsuit worked years ago to take on the financial and other difficulties in our public school system.  And it worked!}

Public defenders sue state over funding

State public defenders filed a sweeping lawsuit Monday seeking a declaration that the state's indigent defense system is inadequately funded and unconstitutional. Reeling from a $2.3 million budget cut for this fiscal year, which starts today, the Department of Public Advocacy filed a declaratory judgement petition in Franklin Circuit Court asking a judge to order the state finance cabinet to pay for private lawyers in cases where public defenders have withdrawn because of budget cuts. In the alternative, public defenders are asking the courts to set a deadline for the General Assembly to allocate more money. If the legislature does not provide ”sufficient“ funds, then public defenders want the courts to dismiss all charges for criminal defendants who don't have public defenders because of budget cuts. ”Not only are the lives and liberty of some of our most vulnerable citizens at risk, but the fairness, reliability and credibility of the criminal justice process are rightly in question,“ Louisville's chief public defender, Dan Goyette, said in a statement. ”We can ill-afford a loss of public confidence in our adversary legal system and with it respect for the rule of law.“