Miami-Dade County Public Defender Bennett Brummer has announced that the office plans to begin turning away as many as 2,000 cases each month: public defenders will only take juvenile, misdemeanor, first-degree murder, and capital sexual battery cases. Brummer says the office is so understaffed that the attorneys cannot perform their constitutional duty to provide adequate representation. 177 attorneys take on 100,000 cases every year–that’s 564 cases per person per year, or more than 10 per week. The article doesn’t say whether that’s a normal caseload for public defenders, or how (un)manageable that is; it sounds like a lot to me, but then again I’ve never been a public defender. One State Legislator responds that the budget cuts “weren’t that severe and they can find better ways to deal with them.” Even so, apparently the Broward County Public Defender is considering taking similar action. There are some private attorneys who can pick up some of the slack, but it seems like a lot of defendants are going to be left without real counsel unless someone in this political battle gives up.
So those of you thinking about being public defenders down in South Florida might want to keep other options open. It looks like a mess.
On the other hand, if you’re really committed to the cause, you probably have a guaranteed job in South Florida after law school.