Expert Services

Executive Director David Carroll updates the commission on the on-going evaluation of indigent defense representation in rural Nevada. As part of the evaluation, the commission selected five of the state’s 15 rural counties for in-depth study through on-site interviews and court observations: Elko, Humboldt, Lander, Lyon, and Nye counties.

At the invitation of the House and Senate co-chairs, Executive Director David Carroll and Counsel Mike Tartaglia assist the committee in understanding constitutional requirements for providing legal representation to indigent people, including national standards addressing independence of the defense function, as the committee debates restructuring the Maine Commission of Indigent Legal Services.

Executive Director David Carroll discusses the findings and recommendations from the 6Ac’s forthcoming statewide evaluation of adult felony indigent defense services.

Executive Director David Carroll continues work with the Task Force members as they develop recommendations to improve the state’s oversight of Sixth Amendment right to counsel services.

For the inaugural meeting of the commission, 6AC Executive Director David Carroll explains Nevada’s unique right to counsel history, the known current deficiencies in providing indigent defense representation in rural counties, and a research plan to objectively document and evaluate indigent defense in rural Nevada.

Executive Director David Carroll works with sub-committee members as they debate potential statewide structures and models for the delivery of indigent defense. Topics include: the advantages and disadvantages of a statewide appellate defender; how some states regionalize the oversight of trial level indigent defense services; and methods states use to get counties to comply with statewide standards.

Wisconsin pays attorneys only $40 per hour to defend the indigent accused. This is the lowest compensation rate in the country and has not changed in 20 years, since 1995 when the Wisconsin legislature reduced the rate from $50 per hour. David Carroll presents evidence from the 6AC report, Justice Shortchanged, showing that the constitutional imperative for independent, conflict-free public defense services has given way to fiscal considerations, at a press conference announcing the Wisconsin State Bar Association and Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ petition to the state Supreme Court to raise the hourly compensation rates and ban flat-fee contracts.

Independence is the first of the ABA’s Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System, yet in the state of Washington this principle is not officially contained in the state’s Standards for Public Defense Services. 6AC Executive Director David Carroll, along with Bob Boruchowitz of the Defender Initiative at Seattle University School of Law, explains how best to create and preserve the independence needed to insulate public defense systems and attorneys from inappropriate interference by governmental bodies and other justice system participants. Topics focus on ethical, structural, and managerial considerations to ensure that the administration of justice is not compromised by disadvantaged public defense systems.

David Carroll discusses the ways in which systemic indigent defense deficiencies contribute to wrongful convictions. Special emphasis is placed on undue political and judicial interference and the use of United States v. Cronic to get at how systemic deficiencies prevent even the best lawyers from providing constitutionally effective right to counsel services.

6AC Executive Director David Carroll discusses independence of the federal public defense services and the work of the Committee to Review the Criminal Justice Act Program.

Beginning in the 1990s, the “Indiana Model” for providing public defense services was widely promoted as potentially the best way to improve the provision of the right to counsel in states throughout America. 6AC Executive Director David Carroll discusses how and why the system legitimizes and institutionalizes the choice of counties to not meet the constitutional parameters of effective representation, as detailed in the Sixth Amendment Center report released in October 2016.

Executive Director David Carroll co-moderates, along with Colette Tvedt of NACDL, a roundtable discussion on “Securing a Meaningful Right to Counsel: Perspectives on State Reforms.”David Carroll moderates at R2C 2nd annual meeting The panel discusses how best to identify and overcome deficiencies in indigent defense systems, using legislation, litigation, and public education approaches, as considered from the vantage of different types of stakeholders including judges, state legislators, and public defense providers. Topics include: a) Utah’s consensus approach to reform and the advancement of evaluation standards; b) Idaho’s recent legislative reforms and why conservatives are in the forefront of advancing the right to counsel; c) federal litigation in Washington State and the role of the U.S. Department of Justice; d) excessive caseloads of public defenders in Missouri and launching a media strike; and, e) the future of the right to counsel in New York. Panelists are: Derek P. Pullan, Utah Fourth District Judge; Christine Perry, Idaho State Representative; Michael Barrett, Missouri State Public Defender; Eileen Farley, Public Defender Supervisor for the cities of Mount Vernon and Burlington (Washington); Corey Stoughton, Senior Counsel at the USDOJ Civil Rights Division; and William Leahy, Director, New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services.