Assemblymember discusses legislation to address California’s shortage of public defenders and increa

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[00:00:01]A shortage of public defenders in our state has led to overwhelming case loads.

[00:00:04]>> Yeah, this can lead to defenders not challenging legal motions and giving people the protection they deserve.

[00:00:09]Assembly member Nick Schultz of Burbank is asking the state to address this issue. Thanks for being with us this morning.

[00:00:15]Good morning. Thanks to be with you all.

[00:00:16]So, in case somebody hasn't entered the court system, explain what public defenders do and why they are so critical.

[00:00:23]Uh great question. So, anyone who's accused of a crime in the state of California and in the United States for that matter is entitled to legal representation. The Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution says that if you're accused of a crime, if you can't afford a lawyer of your own, you are entitled to a publicly appointed attorney to help defend your case. That means it's challenging the prosecution, all the witnesses, all the evidence that they present. It is a foundation to the American justice system. Absolutely.

[00:00:48]Okay, so the issue here is that a Cal Matters investigation found that public defender offices across the state lack defense investigators. You co-sponsored this bill to collect data on public defenders. So, talk about the legislation and what you're trying to do here.

[00:01:01]Absolutely. So, AB 2605 is critical.

[00:01:04]It's about data collection. It's about reporting out the the real crisis in public defense that we see around the state of California and looking at the lack of resources that are made available to public defenders offices.

[00:01:16]And by the way, this isn't some abstract concept. Of the 10 counties in California with the highest rates of conviction as just one example, eight of those counties uh you typically contract out to private firms to provide defense and do so on a flat fee basis. What that means is that is that these attorneys are overworked, they're overburdened, and they can't actually mount a defense into which the a defendant is entitled to. So, the bill, once we collect the data, is really going to give us a bigger picture of where we need to improve across the state of California and really give us a sense of how bleak the situation is.

[00:01:48]So, if this bill passes and data collection confirms the public defender crisis, how are we going to address this?

[00:01:54]I think there's a number of steps that we can do. The two things I'd highlight for today is there's actually a companion piece of legislation I have in the Senate right now, AB 690, which would ban the use of flat fees, which I just talked about. We want defense attorneys to be able to have the resources to focus on their cases and do their jobs. And by the way, I say this as a former prosecutor. I always took comfort in knowing that a defendant with a robust defense, who had the chance to challenge all of my evidence, not only did I have more confidence that the system would get it right, it actually leads to better convictions that are can be sustained more easily on appeal. The other thing uh that I would say is we have to talk about resource parity. We invest in law enforcement, we invest in prosecution offices as we should, but we have to ensure that this right to a robust defense isn't just a promise on paper that's never fulfilled. We have to give them the resources to hire the attorneys and hire the investigators and the support personnel that they need so that anyone who navigates our justice system has a real chance.

[00:02:52]Absolutely. It's crucial to our justice system. Assemblymember Schultz, thank you so much for joining us this morning and we'll continue to follow this legislation and see where it goes.

[00:03:00]Thank you all so much.