Current Louisiana Litigation

Anderson v. State (Calcasieu Parish)

This case will be heard in Baton Rouge, but is pending writ on various issues before the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Anderson v. State, 916 So.2d 431 (La. App. 3d Cir. 2005): Attempting to reform fundamental defects in Louisiana's Criminal Defense System

John Anderson was alone 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 that can only afford to hire nine-lawyers, the Public Defender's Office for the Parish of Calcasieu cannot handle the 5000 cases that it is assigned every year. The legal staff is over-worked 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 New Orleans 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 law suit 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 Defenders Office simply cannot effectively represent their clients when they are forced to work on hundreds of cases at the same time.

A Louisiana Court of Appeals recently decided that Mr. Anderson's complaint was legitimate and "of great import statewide" because it alleges that indigent defendants in Louisiana are receiving illegal treatment by a system that leaves human beings without access to a fair trial.

[ View Anderson v. State complaint ]

Walker v. State (Caddo Parish)

The second court of appeal ruled that this case has standing and should proceed.

Walker v. State: Attempting to free local indigent defender boards from political interference.

Walker v. State of Louisiana addresses the process by which Louisiana's judicial districts select the local boards that oversee their district's system of indigent defense. La. R.S. 15:144 reads:

Each district board shall be composed of no less than three nor more than seven members as determined by the district court. Board members shall be selected by the district court...from nominees provided by each bar association within the judicial district. In the event that no nominations are submitted by the bar association with a judicial district, a majority of the district court judges shall select a board member.

The case deals with the exclusion of members of the Caddo Parish indigent defender board and their replacement with members selected upon nominations from the newly formed Black Lawyers Bar Association and Republican Bar Association.

Without a strong state board to provide oversight to Louisiana's indigent defense system, the task is left to local boards. These boards should be qualified and independent from political interference, as is mandated by national standards. Walker v. State seeks judicial review of Louisiana statutes that render the state's indigent defender boards so vulnerable to undue political interference.

[ View the Second Circuit Court of Appeal decision ]