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A Times Editorial
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 19, 2002
The Pasco-Pinellas Public Defender's Office is threatening to trade defendants for dollars.
In an ill-advised ploy to increase the size of his budget, Public Defender Bob Dillinger plans to ask a court for permission to withdraw from 180 cases pending in Pasco criminal courts. Dillinger said his office is too overworked to handle an increasing caseload.
It is a heavy-handed negotiating tactic that attempts unfairly to push state responsibility for court costs to local taxpayers.
Dillinger had asked Pasco County to allocate $158,000 to hire three new lawyers. He made no such request in Pinellas. Pasco County administrators, who brief the County Commission on the dispute Tuesday, declined Dillinger's request. In response, Dillinger plans to seek to drop cases and have them assigned to court-appointed, private practice attorneys, the charges for whom must be paid for by the county.
Courts traditionally turn to appointed lawyers when the Public Defender's Office has a conflict of interest, such as representing multiple clients in the same criminal case. Pasco already spends $700,000 a year on those conflict cases.
It is worth noting that the county hasn't turned its back on Dillinger. The county's proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 already includes a nearly 11 percent increase for the Public Defender's Office. The proposed $470,000 contribution includes anticipated increases for depositions, transcripts, travel for experts and witnesses, and money for video conferencing equipment.
By comparison, the expected county contribution to the state attorney's office is listed at less than $167,000, a 1.2 percent increase attributed to higher postage costs.
Dillinger would serve the public better if he more closely scrutinized the numbers on his personnel logs instead of numbers on the bottom line. His office currently has 90 attorneys in Pinellas County, each handling about 110 cases. In Pasco, 19 lawyers are assigned an average of more than 200 cases each.
Instead of trying to drop clients, Dillinger should reassign approximately 330 cases among his Pinellas contingent. Increasing the average workload by four cases for 87 attorneys would free three lawyers who could be transferred to Pasco.
Dillinger offered weak explanations to Times staff writer Chase Squires for failing to reassign his attorneys, including his fear they would quit rather than work in New Port Richey or Dade City.
Tough. Reallocating personnel is preferable to a court fight, which is likely. Pasco County promised to object to attempts to drop criminal cases simply because of the public defender's workload.
Dillinger's dilemma is understandable. Criminal cases are mounting. So much so that Pasco Sheriff Bob White already has begun lobbying for an expanded detention center.
Proper planning is needed to meet growing demands on public safety and criminal justice systems, including ensuring indigent criminal defendants receive adequate legal representation. But, Dillinger should be taking his case to Tallahassee, not to the bench in Pasco County.