Dallas public defender saves county money compared to neighbors

by Scott Henson of Grits For Breakfast

The main reason I think Dallas County Commissioners must have some ulterior motive in hounding chief public defender Brad Lollar out of his position this week is that their stated reasons - lazy lawyers and high costs at the public defender's office - make little sense on their face. Lawyers in the Dallas PD office have been told their agency may be dramatically slashed in the coming budget or even eliminated.

Most counties in recent years would have been thrilled to see their indigent defense costs rise as slowly as in Dallas. Indeed, if Dallas county were to slash the public defender budget, there's little question their costs would increase to match higher recent costs experienced by counties without a PD.

In 2005 a consultant hired by neighboring Tarrant County (Fort Worth) contrasted their indigent defense costs in the wake of passage of Texas' Fair Defense Act in 2001 to their neighbors and the rest of the state, and officials would do well to recall that the Dallas defender office fared particularly well by comparison. Expenditures for court appointed counsel increased 40% statewide in the three years after the Fair Defense Act passed, compared to 13% in Dallas. In Tarrant, the increase was a whopping 87% over that period.

Dallas never absorbed those extra costs because the public defender office buffered county taxpayers from the blow. But if they decide to get rid of the PD office or scale it back dramatically, they need only to ask their neighbors in Tarrant how much indigent defense costs will increase down the line.

The right to counsel in criminal cases is a constitutional guarantee, not an optional expense for the county. If Dallas County Commissioners think the PD office is too pricy, I think they'll be shocked to discover the alternatives cost a lot more.

RELATED: In Georgia, a judge decries "irresponsible" cuts to Fulton County PD office. Some of the Dallas judges are ex-members of the PD office. I wonder what they think about what's happening? Several other states are struggling with rising indigent defense costs. People in the US seem to forget that if you want to operate the largest prison system on the planet, you have to pay to play.