Reform Litigation

Louisiana's public defense system has has numerous threats of litigation, and one active case (pending since 2004).

Class Action Litigation In Lake Charles

John Anderson was in jail for six months without ever meeting an attorney. Mr. Anderson’s public defender did not appear at his bond hearing and did not answer the letters and calls that he made to learn about his case. Although he had no criminal history, Mr. Anderson knew that he was being denied the justice that the constitution demands.

Mr. Anderson’s case is not unique. With a legal budget in 2005 that can only afford to hire nine-lawyers, the Public Defender’s Office for the Parish of Calcasieu cannot handle the more than 5,000 cases that it is assigned every year. The legal staff is overworked and underpaid and their poor clients are the ones who suffer. The average person arrested for a crime in Calcasieu Parish sits in jail for 186 days before even learning what crime they are charged with. These problems have made Lake Charles home to one of the most dysfunctional criminal defense systems in the country.

Mr. Anderson – and eight other individuals stuck in jail without proper access to an attorney – filed a class action lawsuit against the State of Louisiana, Governor Blanco and the Louisiana State Legislature for their fundamental failure in providing an adequate public defense system for indigent clients. Although the Louisiana Supreme Court has declared that the Louisiana Constitution “mandates” that the legislature “provide indigent defendants with qualified legal counsel,” the State of Louisiana has dramatically under-funded the system, leaving people like Mr. Anderson unable to get appropriate representation. Attorneys in the Public Defender Office simply cannot effectively represent their clients when they are forced to work on hundreds of cases at the same time.

Today, public defenders in Calcasieu Parish are still overwhelmed by enormous caseloads, some 2-3 times in excess of state and national standards. This results in excessively long pre-trial detention times, limited opportunities for defenders to visit clients in jail and significant constraints in their ability to provide zealous advocacy for their clients. This case is currently being reviewed to assess the impact of the Louisiana Public Defender Reform Act on the resources of the Calcasieu Public Defender Office and the quality of representation that it is able to provide to its clients.

The original complaint (2004) can be read HERE

The amended complaint (2009) can be read HERE