Court appointments bring allegations of cronyism

[sonias]

AAS 4/21/08
Court appointments bring allegations of cronyism
Select lawyers get bulk of juvenile cases

HOUSTON — A relatively small number of lawyers regularly receive nearly half the tax-funded appointments to represent poor defendants in juvenile court in Houston, and many of the attorneys are contributors to the judges making the appointments, a newspaper analysis shows.

Criticized as cronyism by some, the appointments have made several attorneys between $100,000 and $200,000 a year, according to payment records from January 2005 to February 2008 reviewed by the Houston Chronicle.

The system also has saddled some lawyers with heavy caseloads. Nearly half of all juvenile delinquency appointments have gone to about two dozen of the nearly 165 attorneys vying to represent young offenders, payment records show.

Parents have complained of lawyers who don't return phone calls, continually reset hearings or pressure their children to plead guilty to crimes they say they didn't commit.

This is the kind of bad legal system we have in Texas. Anytime money is the root cause of how justice is applied - you don't really get any justice, unless you have money.
Same as it ever was.


Sonia