The report by the National Legal Aid & Defender Association in Washington, D.C., says the Montana system is unconstitutional in many respects, among them inadequate funding.
That results in inadequate services, particularly compared to what's available to prosecutors, the report says. It notes that in Missoula County, nine defenders are assisted by one investigator, one paralegal and three secretaries, but the prosecutor's office has the resources of police and sheriff's departments, plus three paralegals and seven secretaries.
The ACLU filed the 2002 lawsuit against the state on behalf of indigent defendants, claiming their constitutional rights are violated by inadequate defense.
"We're not surprised there are some problems with the system," state Solicitor Brian Morris said in response to the report. The question is whether problems rise to the level of being unconstitutional, as the ACLU claims, he said.
Under an agreement between the attorney general's office and the ACLU, the lawsuit is on hold to give the 2005 Legislature time to work on a new system of public defense.
Morris said timing of the report's release is an attempt to influence legislators studying the system. A legislative subcommittee working on the issue is scheduled to meet Monday in Helena, and the Legislature's Law and Justice Interim Committee will meet on Tuesday. The full Legislature will convene in January.
Crichton said he is not qualified to respond to the assertion about timing. The lawyer handling the lawsuit for the ACLU, Ron Waterman, was out of town Friday and could not be reached, his office said.
The report by the legal aid association was filed Thursday in District Court here, as part of the process by which both sides in a case inform the other of evidence that has been gathered.
The report says judges often appoint defenders as they see fit, rather than according to objective guidelines; deny defenders additional compensation for complex cases; and limit defenders' use of experts and investigators while prosecutors work without the same limits.
Montana fails to ensure that only qualified attorneys represent indigent clients, with many being assigned strictly according to a rotation regardless of their level of experience, according to the report.
It also says Montana has no uniform system for determining who qualifies for services of public defenders, or for appointing defenders in a timely way; defenders lack sufficient time to meet with clients; no policies limit a defender's caseload; and defenders have no meaningful supervision.
On the Net:
American Civil Liberties Union: www.aclumontana.org.
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