Attorneys in Douglas County and across Kansas who represent indigent people in criminal cases may be working without pay by the end of the month.

State budget cuts and the expense of defending capital murder suspects have taken a toll on the Kansas State Board of Indigents’ Defense Services.

The board is notifying attorneys who provide such services that without an emergency appropriation from the Kansas Legislature, there will be “an extended delay” in payment for fees and services.

“I think it could affect the ability of some defendants to get a fair trial,” said Martin Miller, a Lawrence attorney who handles defense cases for the poor.

The board’s death penalty defense unit took a $550,000 cut in its 2003 budget to help meet state budget shortfalls. But it would take that amount, plus an additional $600,000, to make ends meet through the remainder of the budget year, which ends June 30, said Patricia Scalia, the board’s executive director.

The indigent services budget, which pays for court-appointed attorneys and related fees, took a $1.24 million cut from its $7.77 million budget.

“We will have even bigger budget cuts in 2004,” Scalia said. “I don’t even want to think about that.”

‘A real mess’

Not only will payment of attorneys’ fees be stopped until funding is available, so will payment for fees of outside experts that defense attorneys sometimes hire to conduct psychological examinations or testify about evidence.

Lawrence attorney Elbridge Griffy said he already had an outside expert — aware of the state’s financial situation — call to make sure he was going to be paid.

“I’m starting to think about all the other experts I’m going to need to call and wondering if they will be available,” Griffy said.

Attorneys like Juanita Carlson of Lawrence who represent indigent people in criminal cases recently learned the state may not pay them in February and March because of budget shortfalls. Carlson is shown Friday at the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

If cutbacks continue, “it could be a real mess,” he added.

Juanita Carlson, another Lawrence attorney who handles indigent defense cases, said she understood cuts were necessary, but she wondered why the board wasn’t making public defender offices take some of the budget cuts. Douglas and Wyandotte counties are the only large court systems in the state that do not have public defender offices. The counties instead rely on court-appointed attorneys.

“I think they should be more fair in what they are cutting,” Carlson said.

Public defenders offices are not being cut at this time because they are already at a considerably reduced level, according to indigent defense services officials.

No need for panic — yet

Douglas County Chief Judge Robert Fairchild said he didn’t think it was time to hit the panic button about indigent defense services. He said similar delays in payments had occurred in other years.

“If it continues over the long term, then I think it would be a problem,” Fairchild said. “I’m not ready to panic, and I hope the attorneys don’t either.”

¢ Kansas State Board of Indigents’ Defense Services

At the same time, Fairchild said he and the other judges empathized with the attorneys. He noted that they are on a much lower pay scale — $50 per hour — and make less money than other attorneys. Every year the court loses some attorneys because of the frustration of handling indigent cases or because they want more money, Fairchild said.

Miller, Carlson and Griffy said they were not yet ready to stop working for the indigent. The three — who are among a number of attorneys in the county who handle such cases — said they were willing to continue on the assumption that they would eventually get paid.

Griffy, however, said delayed payments for what amounts to a third of his workload would hurt.

“There is some real apprehension about where my office is going to go,” Griffy said. “I think if the police weren’t getting paid, people would be up in arms. We are defending people’s rights, too.”

Scalia said she had talked with State Sen. Stephen Morris, R-Hugoton, about getting emergency funding approved when the Kansas Legislature opens later this month. Morris, who is chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, was supportive, Scalia said.

“I think it’s something that needs to be done,” Morris said. “I’d like to get it done in the first half of the session.”

The Legislature convenes Jan. 13.