Almost 50 years after the U.S. Supreme Court articulated a constitutional right to counsel in criminal cases in Gideon v. Wainwright, New York is poised to more fully actualize that profound declaration. A series of seemingly unconnected events has created a historic opportunity. First, a remarkable paragraph was tucked away in last year’s state budget bill. Inspired by the longstanding crisis in indigent defense, §56-b directed the chief administrator of the courts to “promulgate rules relating to caseloads for attorneys representing indigent clients in criminal matters in cities of one million or more.” The legislation further mandated a five-year phase-in for the court’s solution to the caseload problem. Phase one is to begin on April 1, 2010.
As indigent defense made its way into the state budget, the New York City committee on fire and criminal justice services planned hearings to discuss capping the number of cases an attorney can handle when representing indigent defendants. More recently, the governor’s executive budget for 2010-11 called for the creation of an entity to oversee indigent defense services statewide. In New York City, the office of the criminal justice coordinator issued a new round of requests for proposals for offices to handle indigent defense work.
