Travis County Commissioners continue trying to create a county-wide public defenders office. They want a more efficient way to provide lawyers for criminal suspects who can’t afford one.
It’s part and parcel of the indigent legal services the county has to provide. The state did a feasibility study and made recommendations. Judge Sarah Eckhardt laid out three priorities. “A Public Defenders Office. improvements to managed assigned counsel – CAPDS, and also a change in how we pay for private legal indigent services; because right now it’s a flat fee and we recognize that has all kinds of unintended consequences.”
Groups will continue to meet to hash out a grant application for 7 million dollars to meet those objectives, including a new public defenders office that commisioners will vote on in coming weeks. Eckhardt says “I’m suggesting that some folks be brought together to discuss what additional agreements and commitments need to be made to build the trust necessary to move this forward and make it work.”
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