1999 Annual Report #1

In Lancaster County, the indigent defense system has several component parts: the Lancaster County Public Defender's Office; several contracts with agencies and private firms; and an ad hoc system of assigned counsel where judges appoint private attorneys who are then paid on an hourly basis. In the pie chart below, we compare those components in terms of expenditures for fiscal years 1999 and 2000. Contract expenditures for Juvenile Court which are carried in the Public Defender's budget, are shown as "All Contracts" expenditures.

Contracts
There has been growth in the contracts component and a shrinking of the assigned counsel component in recent years. Lancaster County currently has five contracts with private attorneys or agencies, four for Juvenile Court work and one for the Child Support Enforcement work. The Child Support Enforcement contract is with the private firm of Ugai and Lindgren. They represent individuals in child support contempt actions and paternity establishment actions.

The County also has a contract with Legal Services of Southeast Nebraska for representation of individuals in the Juvenile Court. The current contract provides for appointment in up to 150 new Abuse/Neglect cases, 150 Law Violation cases (when the Public Defender has a conflict), and up to 75 Status type cases. Three private firms (Orton, Thomas, and O'Connell; Glynn and Bollerup; and Anderson, Creager and Wittstruck) also have contracts with the county for work in the Juvenile Court. Each of these contracts is currently for up to 50 new appointments in the Abuse/Neglect cases per year, with a maximum pending number of 120 cases.

Assigned Counsel
The Assigned Counsel component is the most expensive, with rates of $65 per hour in District and County Court (up to $85 per hour in First Degree Murder cases) and $60 per hour in Juvenile Court. In 1999, the average cost per case for assigned counsel was as follows: non-major felony cases - $995; misdemeanors cases - $292; juvenile law violation cases - $436; juvenile abuse/neglect - $988.

Historical Growth
Since 1994, the overall cost of indigent defense in Lancaster County has grown by 89% (more than 15% per year). By Far, the fastest growing segment of the indigent defense cost is the juvenile court cost. As demonstrated in the chart below, the costs in juvenile court representation, outside of the Public Defender's Office, has grown by 94%.

Commission on Public Advocacy
One of the major reasons that the costs for assigned counsel in Major Felonies and other Felony cases has not increased significantly in recent years, is the establishment of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy (NCPA). This state agency will represent individuals in First Degree Murder cases when the Public Defender's Office has a conflict of interest and Lancaster County is billed only one third of the Commission's actual cost. In Drug and Violent crime felonies, the agency represents individuals when the Public Defender has a conflict at no cost to the county. NCPA reports that in 1999, they opened 61 drug and violent crime felonies in Lancaster County and 2 cases of First Degree Murder. Based upon the number of hours that agency spent on those cases, and the hourly rates allowed court appointed private attorneys (who would have been appointed if it were not for NCPA), NCPA saved Lancaster County approximately $189,000 in attorney fees in 1999.

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