Dear editor,
On Wednesday, April 28, the Hays County Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee voted overwhelmingly in favor of a Public Defender office. This win for quality indigent defense comes after three years of advocacy efforts led by Mano Amiga. The only “NO” vote of the 20-person body came, predictably, from Todd Dudley, a representative of the group calling itself the Defense Bar.
He told those gathered: “If I’m doing the math right, we’re looking at each [PDO] attorney handling 73 felonies and 120 misdemeanors … that’s just not possible. I handled 21 last year and I’ve been doing this for 25 years, so my concern would be the caseload for these lawyers with this proposition is just not feasible.”
Several attendees chimed in to point out that the caseload outlined in the proposal is, indeed, feasible and within best-practice guidelines recommended by the Texas Indigent Defense Commission. Interestingly, a peek at Dudley’s caseload in 2019 reveals that even he, himself, has been capable of taking on much more than just “21 cases” per year. In fact, in 2019, Dudley handled a total of 159 cases, which is over seven times more than what he claims to have taken last year.
Even if Dudley were correct that the caseload recommended in the proposal is “just not feasible” –– and, again, he wasn’t –– this concern should be followed with a suggestion that the proposal be amended to add more funding for the Public Defender Office. Instead, Dudley chose to abandon the idea altogether with an outright “NO” vote. It is also worth mentioning that even District Attorney Wes Mau praised the holistic resources provided by the Public Defender Office proposal, in terms of opportunities that help defendants confront mental health challenges, addiction, joblessness and lack of housing, before he understandably abstained from voting.
Tellingly, and in contrast, Dudley — on behalf of the so-called Defense Bar, whose clients would actually benefit –– said nothing of the sort and then cast the solitary “NO” vote.
The time has arrived for a new path forward in Hays County for providing legal representation to low-income residents; the time has come for a Public Defender Office.
Samantha Benavides
San Marcos
