State-Journal.com - Grinding justice down

Court officials warned early in the legislative session that budget cutbacks could seriously handicap their ability to serve both criminal defendants and crime victims in the coming biennium. Now the Department for Public Advocacy says a $2.5 million reduction in its funding for the next fiscal year means some people who normally would be assigned public defenders may not have such representation in court, which raises the question of whether those defendants can even be prosecuted without violating their constitutional right to fair counsel.

It's just one consequence of the topsy-turvy priorities in a $19 billion state budget that ranked projects ahead of people. Patching together a deal on the new spending plan without any new taxes, legislators found millions last week to spend on a variety of porcine enterprises in their home districts. And they're expected to hand out more millions for water and sewer projects next week when they return to town for the final two days of the session.

For the public defender system, the financial situation is brutally simple, according to Robert Ewald, DPA commission chairman. "People won't work for nothing," he told the Associated Press, "and you can't tell a lawyer to take 800 cases per year." The agency expects to cut its staff of attorneys by 54. Among the clients likely to be affected are people involved in conflict cases, probation revocation hearings, parole violation proceedings, status offender cases, involuntary commitments and some misdemeanors.

So the deadbeats who depend on the state to pay their legal bills will just have to make other arrangements or go to jail, right? Wrong. If criminal defendants can't be defended, maybe they can't be prosecuted, either. Perhaps they'll end up back on the streets, once again getting into trouble with the law. And besides, prosecutors also face budget reductions. The Franklin County attorney and commonwealth's attorney have previously said they would be hard-pressed to keep up their end of the judicial contract with less money. Crimes could go unprosecuted even if defenders are available. Prisons might have to set criminals free.

"This is a painful budget for all who depend on the state for services," Gov. Steve Beshear said in a statement after the Public Advocacy announcement. Exactly how painful is just beginning to be understood.