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Public
Defenders are very overworked and often seem to take the path of least
resistance, which in your case may mean doing time on a plea bargain.
We have seen public defenders who don't care and those who seem to care
very much but who still don't do anything on their clients behalf. It
is important for you to remind your public defender that they are being
paid to defend you and that they are held to the same professional standards
as any other attorney and you can easily file a Bar Complaint against
them if they do not do their job. If enough people do this, and the
PD accrues many complaints, they can lose their positions as PDs.
If your public defender does not seem to be pursuing your best interests
and is ignoring critical information and missing deadlines for filing
briefs and other courtroom documents, you should write a letter to the
judge and tell the judge the circumstances of your innocence that are
being ignored by your PD. This will enable the judge to ask questions
of the PD in court about information they would not yet have heard.
If you feel the PD is completely ignoring you or not adequately representing
you, you also have the right to ask for a new attorney. This must be
approved by the judge, but making certain that everyone knows that the
PD assigned to you is not doing their job can cause problems for the
PD as well.
A woman in South Dakota once said that if an Indian is arrested, he
is going to jail. So far as we have seen in South Dakota and a few other
states, that statement is very true. The time MUST come when the PDs
look at their clients with respect and the understanding that their
clients are NOT unempowered. You DO have rights, and you CAN exercise
them!
If your Public Defender insists you take a plea bargain, and if you
can easily and clearly prove your innocence with documentation, with
witnesses, or if there were severe violations of your civil rights during
the arrest, REFUSE to take the Plea Bargain. You have the right to declare
your innocence, regardless of what the PD says. They may threaten you,
they may try to frighten you into taking a plea by saying you will do
worse if you go to trial, but if you can easily prove your innocence,
REFUSE TO TAKE THE PLEA!!!!
A trial is very expensive and time consuming for the PD, and it is equally
expensive and time consuming for the judge. When you get to court, and
the judge asks how you plea, SAY YOU ARE INNOCENT if you can prove that
you are. There is a good chance the judge will look over your material
on the spot, and may even dismiss the case entirely. We have seen this
to be true in cases where the client is clearly innocent.
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