New York State Defenders Association, Inc.

Public Defense Backup Center

194 Washington Ave. Suite 500 Albany, NY 12210-2314 Telephone (518) 465-3524 Fax (518) 465-3249 www.nysda.org

Resolution Opposing Further Funding Cutbacks Affecting the Federal Defender System and Calling on Congress to Create a Federally Funded, Independent Office of Defender Services WHEREAS the United States Supreme Court recognized fifty years ago in Gideon v Wainwright that people haled into court on criminal charges require the guiding hand of counsel at every step and, if they cannot afford to hire a lawyer, have a right to have counsel provided, and WHEREAS two years later the New York State Legislature passed legislation that was signed by Governor Rockefeller to create Article 18-B of the County Law, which governs how state public defense services are provided, and WHEREAS the New York State Defenders Association (NYSDA) came into being in 1967 to share information among newly-created programs, train public defense lawyers, and establish standards for the purpose of ensuring quality representation of public defense clients, and WHEREAS NYSDAs mission is to improve the quality and scope of publicly supported legal representation to low income people, and WHEREAS the objectives of NYSDA as set out in its by-laws include cooperating with all organizations interested in the administration of justice, and WHEREAS NYSDA has a long history of working with the Federal Defender for the Northern District of New York and other federal defense lawyers and programs to provide training and otherwise improve the quality of public defense representation in both state and federal courts in New York State, and WHEREAS people subject to state criminal charges may in some circumstances find federal charges lodged against them in addition, giving state and federal public defense lawyers actual clients in common as well as common interests, and WHEREAS NYSDA recognizes that the federal public defender system has long served for decades as a model for providing well-resourced, quality representation to clients unable to afford retained counsel, and WHEREAS NYSDA has noted with concern, as set out in a post on NYSDAs Gideon Anniversary Blog on August 5, 2013, entitled Federal Defender Disaster: Another Gideon Anniversary Irony, that federal budget cutbacks are damaging this model system, and WHEREAS the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, in a resolution passed on September 7, 2013, set out many specific harmful effects of the cutbacks to the federal defender system on cases, lawyers, and the justice system, and

WHEREAS damage to the federal defender system not only directly harms federal defender clients but also derivatively harms all public defense services both by reducing the ability of the federal defender system to participate in training and other systemic quality-improvement activities and by demonstrating governmental disregard for the right to counsel and the justice that right is meant to ensure, and WHEREAS the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOC), under the supervision and direction of the Judicial Conference, currently oversees the expenditure of federal funds appropriated for federal public defense services, administers the federal defender and panel attorney program nationally; and provides for training related to furnishing federal public defense representation; and WHEREAS the AOC provides legal, policy, management, and fiscal advice to the Conference and its committees and to judges as well as to those in the federal public defense system as noted on the federal court website, and WHEREAS state and national standards recognize the fundamental principle that The public defense function, including the selection, funding, and payment of defense counsel, is independent, (American Bar Association, Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System [2002], Principle 1; see also, e.g., NYSDA, Standards for Providing Constitutionally and Statutorily Mandated Legal Representation in New York State [2004], Standard II, and New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services, Standards and Criteria for the Provision of Mandated Representation in Cases Involving a Conflict of Interest [2012], Standard 1), THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that NYSDA opposes further cuts in funding affecting federal defender offices, federal assigned counsel, and/or resources for the representation of federal public defense clients, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that NYSDA opposes any further deferral of payments to counsel assigned to handle federal public defense cases, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that NYSDA calls upon the New York State Congressional Delegation and Congress as a whole to restore and fully fund the federal public defense system, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that NYSDA calls upon the New York State Congressional Delegation and Congress as a whole to create a federally funded, independent Office of Defender Services that is free from political and judicial influence and dedicated to the quality representation of clients. IT IS FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be sent to members of the New York Congressional Delegation, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, United States Attorney General Eric Holder, President Barak Obama, the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Association for Public Defense, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the American Council of Chief Defenders, and other appropriate instrumentalities. ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE NEW YORK STATE DEFENDERS ASSOCIATION. October 31, 2013 Albany, NY
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