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Harris County Juvenile Indigent Defense

By standdown

In the Houston Chronicle, Sarah Viren reports, "A select few get the cases, and the cash."A relatively small group of attorneys, some of them old friends and all financial backers of judges handing out work, regularly receives close to half of all the tax-funded appointments to represent the poor in the juvenile courts, a Houston Chronicle analysis has found. The system, criticized as cronyism by some, has made several attorneys between $100,000 and $200,000 a year on the public dime, according to county payment records from January 2005 to February 2008. It also has saddled a handful, including a few who take outside jobs, with caseloads exceeding the recommended number. Some lawyers who seek a share of the work say local juvenile judges have found loopholes in a state law passed seven years ago meant to take the favoritism out of the appointment process...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on April 21, 2008 (boomark / email).