Pulaski County again faces fund bid from defender

Tight vote shows divide on money for state-paid office

Money that grants truant children in Pulaski County an attorney squeaked through a committee vote, flaring old tensions between fiscal and civil responsibilities in the process.

In the Pulaski County public defender's proposed 2018 budget, there's a $28,500 line item for contract labor. It pays for two part-time lawyers: one for children who skipped school and another for veterans treatment court, said Bill Simpson, who heads the office.

In Arkansas, state money has paid for public defenders since they became state employees in 1998. Before then, counties usually contracted with attorneys to handle indigent work, said Gregg Parrish, executive director of the Arkansas Public Defender Commission.

Now, counties prop up day-to-day operations, such as the brick and mortar building, office supplies and staff members. They are allowed to also pay for attorneys -- public defenders and prosecutors -- but it's not required.

Pulaski County's Quorum Court budget committee approved Simpson's budget earlier this month. But he was called back Tuesday after county officials realized the line item paid for attorney fees.

Only the truancy post was discussed at the meeting.

Comptroller Mike Hutchens said he mentioned the requested funding to the Quorum Court because it mirrored a prior spat.

In July 2016, the court denied Simpson's request for a new public defender. A previous joint request for a new public defender and prosecutor had already failed.

Some members worried that by financially backing a typically state-authorized job, they'd set an unfavorable precedent. Hutchens reiterated that concern Tuesday.

"The only question here is, do you want to continue going down that road, or do you want to put the brakes on," Hutchens said. He added that he didn't care what decision the Quorum Court reached.

Simpson said his office has contracted out the truancy work for the past several years because the youths would not otherwise have counsel.

Under two U.S. Supreme Court rulings, public defenders are required only for people facing incarceration. Youths accused of ditching school without cause aren't up against that penalty, Simpson said.

They face jail time only if they're found in contempt of court, said Judge Joyce Williams Warren, 10th division, one of three Pulaski County circuit judges who handles youth cases.

Under that circumstance, they could be sent to juvenile jail, Warren said. Parents also can be fined or held in contempt, she said.

Warren said she rarely, if ever, uses those options. Mostly, her cases involve coming to an understanding with the child, though "there's only so much you can do," she said.

Judge Wiley Branton, 8th Division, and Judge Patricia James, 11th Division, also preside over juvenile cases.

In 2016, Warren heard 64 truancy cases, Branton heard 69 and James heard 76, for a total of 209, according to the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Justice of the Peace Phil Stowers said continuing to back a job that should be rightfully funded by the state could be like "opening Pandora's box."

Other counties look to Pulaski County for leadership, Stowers said, before he made a motion to eliminate the $28,500 from the 2018 budget.

Simpson re-emphasized that the state would never pay for the truancy job, and youths need a defender because they are clueless to the workings of the legal system.

"When a 16-year-old stumbles in and just says, 'What up?' they don't know what to do. Is that a prosecutor? Is that a judge?" he said.

Warren said she "cannot imagine" a truancy hearing without a public defender. Lawyers can sometimes steer teens toward help. A child might be skirting school because of bullying, she said.

Simpson quashed the idea that other state-funded public defenders could pick up the cases. County funding for his office, which he said handles 85 percent of all criminal cases, was $565,330 in 2017.

He said it pales in comparison with the prosecuting attorney's office, allotted about $2.35 million from county coffers in the same year.

"We are probably the most underfunded -- one of the most underfunded -- public defender's offices in the South," he told the court.

Though counties aren't required to back public defender posts, it's not unheard of for them to do so, said Parrish, the Public Defender Commission director.

Jay Saxton, Benton County's chief public defender, went to his Quorum Court on Thursday to ask for a new post. As population swells, so does everything else, including crime, Saxton said.

He'll find out in a couple of weeks whether the money is approved.

Four of Benton County's 11 public defenders are already funded through the county, as are several prosecutors, Saxton said.

When requesting a new attorney, Saxton said he approaches the Public Defender Commission first, which lobbies the state Legislature on behalf of public defender offices across Arkansas. In the past, other counties have been in greater need, and new state-funded posts have been few and far between, he said.

In 2017, lawmakers granted three new public defenders for all of Arkansas, plus five mitigators, five investigators and five paralegals, Parrish said.

Denny Hyslip said he, too, will probably ask his Quorum Court for a new attorney in a year or two. He mans the public defender's office in Washington County. Three of his 13 lawyers are already on the county payroll, he said.

As Tuesday's debate wound down in Pulaski County, Justice of the Peace Teresa Coney said a truancy defender is sorely needed. Most children who skip school are from poor families, she added.

Stowers responded that he grew up in a janitor's household.

"I did come from the lower end of the income spectrum, and I never skipped school," he said.

"Well, you're one of the lucky ones," Coney said in response. "Perhaps you had a mom and a dad. But a lot of our children just have mothers."

A vote on Stowers' motion prompted a moment of confusion.

Coney and fellow court members Curtis Keith, Donna Massey and Aaron Robinson voted to keep the $28,500 in the public defender's budget. Stowers, Doug Reed, Lillie McMullen and Judy Green voted against it.

When the 4-4 tie was called, McMullen said she misheard the motion and miscast her vote.

Massey, chairman of the committee, clarified that under a tie, Simpson's budget remains untouched for now. It will be voted on by the full Quorum Court when the body passes the entire budget, which typically happens in late November.

Metro on 10/23/2017

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