Public Defender's Office Assigns Missouri Guv To Case Amid Funding Spat
Last edited Thu Aug 4, 2016, 12:14 PM - Edit history (1)
By Kristen Taketa St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Fed up with what he says is the governors failure to properly fund his overwhelmed office, the states lead public defender ordered Gov. Jay Nixon this week to represent a poor person in Cole County this month.
Michael Barrett said he was using a provision of state law that allows him in extraordinary circumstances to delegate legal representation to any member of the state bar of Missouri. Hes starting with the states highest-profile lawyer: Nixon.
Barrett says the governor has repeatedly declined to give the public defender system the money it requests and is withholding promised funding increases this year.
Providing counsel to poor people who face incarceration is the obligation of the state. Its not fair to go after private attorneys who are trying to pay the rent when they had nothing to do with contributing to this, Barrett said in an interview Wednesday.
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http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/state-and-regional/missouri-s-head-public-defender-assigns-case-to-gov-nixon/article_37809be0-b7ee-56b4-b478-bf8dfe01720f.html