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NY-State Court of Appeals Rules that class action suit challenging the adequacy of the state's public defender system can move forward

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

Suit Over Legal Aid Advances in New York By WILLIAM GLABERSON Published: May 6, 2010 The 4-to-3 ruling by the State Court of Appeals came in a closely watched suit that civil liberties lawyers said could be a model for similar challenges across the country. It also set the stage for a sweeping battle in the courts and perhaps the Legislature. Written by the state?s chief judge, Jonathan Lippman, the ruling said the suit, which had been bitterly opposed by the state, could proceed because it posed fundamental questions about the fairness of the criminal justice system. ?Wrongful conviction, the ultimate sign of a criminal justice system?s breakdown and failure, has been documented in too many cases,? the decision said. The ruling was something of a milestone after decades of reports and findings by state commissions that New York?s locally financed system for meeting the constitutional requirement to provide lawyers for indigent defendants, which varies greatly by county, is inadequate, with inattentive, unavailable, poorly trained and poorly supervised lawyers handling huge caseloads...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on May 08, 2010 (boomark / email).