Thread by @ScottHech

THREAD: A bill is now racing thru Louisiana's legislature pushed by this guy. A former prosecutor. To destroy public defender independence, install a "defense czar" beholden to the Governor, & keep public defenders dependent on conviction fees of the very people they represent.

I'll start this story in the summer of 2016. That was when Alton Sterling, a 37 y/o Black man, was shot dead by 2 cops in East Baton Rouge. What does a police murder have to do with public defense funding? Answer should be "nothing." But in Louisiana, it was everything.

Alton Sterling's killing sparked widespread protests and calls for justice & accountability, which lead to even more violence & clashes w/ police. Just one month later, Baton Rouge then endured catastrophic flooding, which caused unprecedented damage.

The floods & protests over Alton Sterling's killing lead to another devastating outcome. As police were removed from active duty to address the protests & natural disasters, traffic tickets were simply not written.

In Louisiana, that meant that public defense was not funded.

The result of traffic tickets drying up: Public defender layoffs. Unfilled positions. Waiting lists of people in need of counsel. Public defenders w/ sky-high caseloads. Tens of millions of taxpayer dollars wasted on people jailed pretrial w/o an attorney to represent them.

Four years later, East Baton Rouge defenders & the community they served were still struggling. Then COVID struck. History repeated. The traffic tickets & court fines & fees public defense offices are forced to rely upon for funding--the “User Pay” system—have been depleted.

True throughout Louisiana. Public defense is in crisis in Louisiana. 1000s in Louisiana are jailed w/ no lawyer. Why?

They fund public defense off the backs of those who can't afford a lawyer. Fines/traffic tickets. The pandemic has dried up those funds.

Public defenders are needed now more than ever. Needed to save lives, provide counsel for those detained, & save taxpayers the costly waste of thousands locked in jail pretrial, uncounseled, waiting indefinitely for their case to resolve.

Fortunately, public defenders had independence to petition the legislature not just for what they needed, but for what was right -- stable state funding without having to rely on a racist, costly, unstable, and just plain wrong system of depending on their clients for funding.

Public defenders didn’t have this independence before 2007. There were no public defender offices at all. Just an “old boys club." Private attorney friends of judges appointed. A plea mill. Then in 2007, a new law allowed for public defender offices to be created w/ independence.

With this independence, public defense offices opened up & started to do extraordinary things. Judges hated it. I was in the 2nd intern class of Orleans Public Defenders. Remember the head of the office frequently being cuffed out of courtrooms for making simple legal arguments.

This past year, they did the impossible. Just one public defender in East Baton Rouge saved 1400 people the brutality of jail. Kept families together. Saved millions. And they started calling for more adequate funding & the end to “user pay.” Campaign:

Public defenders united & called for an end to a system that:

Kept 1000s in jail waiting for their day in court
Families Separated
Police misconduct, abuse, and violence unchallenged.
Evidence lost
Victims denied justice
Taxpayer dollars wasted.

And Louisiana legislators *heard public defenders.* Less than a year ago, defenders testified before the same house that just yesterday voted to end the public defender board. And legislator after legislator were moved.

“It’s our constitutional duty to fund you.” Listen/watch:

Given all of this, youd expect the Louisiana legislature would be spending their time ending reliance on user pay & strengthening public defense. No. Instead they’re overhauling the public defense system & further engraining reliance on the user pay system.

These guys:

Yesterday, legislation passed the House thatll(1) End public defense board, (2) put all power in hands of a "public defense czar" beholden to Governor, & (3) instead of doing *anything* for public defense funding, further ingrains fines and fees into law.

And it’s all happening so fast, no one has any idea about it all. Public defenders are all adamantly opposed to it. The community hasn’t even had an opportunity to learn about the law that will affect their lives & communities, let alone be heard. It’s all so wrong.

Just a few months ago, the bill sponsor -- Tanner Magee -- joined public defenders to decry Louisiana's system of relying on fines & fees for public defense funding. Magee: "It's truly a broken system." Here's a link to the video. facebook.com/watch/live/?v=…

In this segment, the Louisiana legislator Tanner Magee--currently speeding a bill to destroy public defense through legislature--acknowledges there's an outstanding inquiry into fines/fees & public defense. "We don't know what's going on with the money." facebook.com/12070584800799…

The same bill drafter--Tanner Magee--who is further entrenching conviction fees into state law just in January: "The only way a public defender gets paid is if their client gets convicted. That is a crazy, perverse system. It shouldn't be that way.

What happened @TannerDMagee?

And the Bill sponsor responds. Legislator Magee. With a lengthy statement *by a former federal prosecutor* about why we should be abolishing the public defender board instead of just, I don’t know, improving it. All while actually funding public defense at the levels needed.

Again then, Rep., pull the bill. Fix the board. Don’t replace it with something far worse. Instead spend time working with local defenders like Derwyn Bunton in NOLA & Lindsay Blouin in East Baton Rouge to fully fund public defense & end user pay. Stop wasting time w/ garbage.

Then get rid of the racist & unconstitutional fee! You *are entrenching it. You admit right here you wrote it into another state law. You’re “routing it through the state so that we can better account for it. It still goes to the locals.” It shouldn’t come from or go to anyone.

Question: Given Tanner’s stated goal of ending dependence on fines/fees & funding defense, why not do it? He’s widely respected. He can do this. Instead hes taking a risk every defender I know/respect is opposed to & writing conviction fees into a new law.

Tanner didnt answer question. Also there’s no reason to talk here like we’re in a schoolyard snark fight. I live in Brooklyn, but know & care about humans directly impacted by one of the most carceral states in the country. Legitimate questions. All them.

I don’t “love the board.” The board needs fixing. Clearly. So do that. What public defense & the communities & people they serve certainly don’t need is a single political appointee subject the whims of the executive. That’s far worse & more dangerous.

A) I’m not calling you names. Don’t question my sincerity. B) I don’t think youre insincere. C) I think youre making a giant mistake w/o taking enough time to think through implications & speaking w/ enough folks who know/do care. D) You reached out to me?