Judge suspends prosecution for 98 Unrepresented Defendants in New Orleans - 20 released

NEW ORLEANS: A New Orleans judge on Monday suspended the prosecution of almost 100 defendants and ordered the release of those still jailed, reflecting his continued concerns over the city's inability to provide such defendants with adequate representation.

Criminal court Judge Arthur Hunter Jr. halted prosecution of 98 defendants, and ordered 20 still held in jail to be released. The release was the latest by Hunter, who has before criticized the city's underfunded public defender's office for not providing adequate counsel to those who cannot afford a private attorney. Last month, he suspended prosecution for 42 other poor defendants.

"Either the court or an attorney will be in contact with you," Hunter told dozens of unrepresented defendants in his courtroom. The charges were not dropped, but until they get lawyers they would not be prosecuted, he said, drawing objections from prosecutors.

"That is wrong, we will oppose that," Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan said. His office planned to file an emergency request to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal to block the actual release of any prisoners.

"We don't think the answer is to release people onto the streets," Jordan said.

Hunter is the only judge among the 13 in Orleans Parish Criminal Court suspending prosecution or releasing prisoners, Jordan pointed out.

"If this judge is correct, defendants in every court around the state will be released," Jordan said.

Jordan was not sure what the charges against the latest group of defendants were, but he said they were probably mostly drug charges and some cases of theft.

For months, Hunter has been battling what he sees as the office's inability to adequately represent the city's hundreds of poor defendants since Hurricane Katrina wrecked the criminal justice system.

Problems with the system became glaring after the storm, when thousands of jailed pretrial inmates were scattered to prisons across the state. Most waited for months for any contact with a lawyer.

Before the hurricane hit, three-quarters of the defenders' office's budget was financed by traffic court fines. That revenue dried up after Katrina devastated the city in August 2005. A justice department study said the office needs between $7 million (€5.14 million) and $10 million (€7.34 million) a year to operate.

Jordan said he felt Hunter was taking the right steps in trying to find private attorneys to represent those poor defendants the public defenders office could not handle. But Jordan had no answer for how those attorneys should be paid for their services.

Hunter, however, said he doubted finding private attorneys would solve the problem since the city would be faced with the same problem of how to pay for the lawyers. Still, the court will continue notifying private attorneys asking them to represent poor defendants. he said. [MORE]