County's public defender work group loses key participant

The future of a Travis County proposal to create a public defenders office is hazy after commissioners learned Tuesday that a major player in the criminal justice arena has pulled out of a work group on the subject.

According to resignation letters, the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyers Association's board voted unanimously at a special meeting Jan. 31 to withdraw from the group, citing concerns that the work group was rushing, its environment was too hostile and its composition lacking in practicing trial attorneys. Two association members had been part of the 14-member work group, and two were alternate, non-voting members.

"This whole thing feels like a lot of political theater designed to give the appearance of debating and discussing a something that it (the work group) believes to be a forgone conclusion," former work group member Krista Chacona said in her letter of resignation.

Most other major American counties have a public defender’s office. In Travis County, the Capital Area Private Defenders Services instead assigned felony and misdemeanor cases to roughly 200 defense attorneys since 2015. (The county also has smaller public defender offices for juvenile defendants and defendants with qualifying mental health issues.)

Travis County commissioners began exploring the possibility of creating an office last spring after a study commissioned by the county, which focused on state jail felony possession of a controlled substance, found that 80 percent of defendants represented by defenders service lawyers were found guilty, compared with 48 percent of defendants who hired their counsel.

Aiming to fix that disparity, commissioners this fall convened the work group, which includes representation from the defender service, academia and local advocacy organizations, to study the possibility of creating a public defender's office.

The association's withdrawal marks the loss of yet another key voice from the criminal justice community. Criminal judges, who under state law have the final say in whether to create an office, declined to participate in the working group from the onset of the process.

More than a dozen people spoke Tuesday, most in support of a public defender's office. Despite some initial discussion by commissioners about replacing the departing working group members or finding a way to retain them, the court took no action Tuesday.

"It just seems to me that the process itself may need to be re-examined to figure out how to get what seem to be key parties re-engaged," Commissioner Brigid Shea said. "This seems like we have some structural problems that may make it difficult to proceed."

Amanda Woog, chair of the work group, said it has completed a draft letter detailing its intent to submit a grant application for funding to the Texas Indigent Defense Commission. The group plans to run it by criminal judges for approval before bringing it before the commissioners court for review in coming weeks and a vote on March 5. The final grant application is due to the commission on May 10.

Woog said that while she was disappointed by the resignations of four members, she said she hopes the letter can serve as a new, more informed starting point for re-opening discussions with judges and private attorneys.

"With pen now to paper, it gives us the opportunity to bring something to and work with judges, community members, defense attorneys and others to get feedback for development and full proposal," she said.

Last month, another one of Travis County's plans to revamp its criminal justice set-up fell through when a proposal to combine the district and county attorney's offices failed to garner enough support from commissioners.