Louisiana

Indigent Defense Assistance Board

 

Minutes of the Board Meeting

July 18, 2006

Louisiana Indigent Defense Assistance Board

1010 Common Street, 2nd Floor

New Orleans, Louisiana

 

Members Present:  Jerri G. Smitko, Chair; Cameron Gamble; Addison Goff, IV, Janet Hoeffel; Rev. Dan Krutz; William Norris; Donald North; Walter Sanchez; Tarvald Smith; Majeeda Snead; and Gina Womack

 

Ex Officio Members Present:  Anthony Champagne, Vice-Chair and Ronald Ware.

 

Staff Present:  Edward R. Greenlee and Marsha Austtun Oliver.

 

Guests Present:  Derwyn Bunton, Gary Clements, Denise LeBoeuf, Jim Looney, Patti Puritz and Ronald Sullivan.  

 

Call to Order and Opening Remarks.  The meeting was called to order at 2:10 p.m. by the Chair.   Ms. Oliver called the roll; a quorum was present.

 

Review and Adoption of Minutes from the June 20, 2006.  The minutes were unavailable for review and approval and will be reviewed at the next meeting.  

 

Standards Committee Report by Janet Hoeffel.  Ms. Hoeffel reported that the Standards committee met on July 7, 2006 and that she, Mr. Gamble, Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Champagne were present for the meeting.  The standards committee agreed that the mission of the Board was to improve indigent defense in Louisiana.   The committee discussed the limitation of its authority to mandate district boards to comply with caseload standards.  The withholding of district assistance funds is the only method to force compliance with the standards.  The committee discussed the use of additional district assistance funds to be used only for assistance in complying with LIDAB standards.  The committee acknowledged that LIDAB needs additional staff to monitor standards compliance by district boards.  The committee also supports funds being allocated to juvenile defense and to assist Orleans Parish with its crisis.

 

Budget Committee Report by Cameron Gamble.  Mr. Gamble reported that the Budget Committee met on June 26, 2006 and all committee members were present except Ms. McGough.  The budget committee discussed Mr. Greenlee’s budget recommendation for fiscal year 2006-2007.  Mr. Greenlee recommendations included the addition of $4 million to the district assistance fund to be used to enable district indigent defender boards to comply with the LIDAB caseload standards and $3.2 million be used for new projects.  The committee discussed the recommendations and voted to adopt Mr. Greenlee’s budget recommendations with the understanding that it would be adjusted after budget requests from LIDAB programs were received by the Board.

 

Consideration of Case Tracking Software Proposal.  Mr. Greenlee reviewed costs of alternative case tracking proposals that he previously forwarded to the Board, all of which were much more expensive than the DMP Web Plus case tracking system developed and offered by Deiter Pichowiak.  At this time Ronald Sullivan, interim director of the Orleans Parish Public Defender Office, addressed the Board in regard to the possible donation of the Atticus case management system to the Board.  Mr. Sullivan was already providing the Atticus system to the Orleans Parish Public Defender Board at no cost along with free technical support.  Mr. Greenlee said that the Atticus system would require the use of servers, which would add additional costs that the Web Plus system did not need and that though the use of a case management is a goal, at this time it would require additional training, personnel and equipment that would delay the implementation of case tracking which is essential to determining the true cost of the indigent defense system in Louisiana.  Jim Looney of the Louisiana Appellate Project, speaking on behalf of Mr. Pichowiak, who was unavailable for the meeting, said that several district boards were already beginning to use the Web Plus system and that it did not require a server or extensive training for use and was essentially ready to go.  The Board expressed concern about delays in obtaining information needed if it went with a different system.  Mr. North thought it extremely important that the district boards start using a case management system, as opposed to a case tracking system.  Mr. Looney said that the case tracking system already had several components that could be used for case management.  Rev. Krutz moved that the Board approve the proposed contract with DMP Web Plus.  Mr. Sanchez seconded the motion.  The motion passed with only Mr. North voting in opposition.

 

Consideration of Budget Subcommittee’s Recommendation.  Mr. Greenlee went over the budget proposal which was recommended by the Budget Subcommittee.  Ms. Hoeffel said the Board should only encumber funds for the previously funded LIDAB programs as necessary today and the Board should wait to vote on the remainder of the budget.  Mr. Greenlee stated that he needed to provide the Division of Administration at least a working budget of all LIDAB funds by mid-August and that the budget could be changed at later meetings as the Board deemed appropriate.  Ms. Hoeffel stated that she had problems with voting for a second expert witness and testing fund for the districts.  Mr. Goff expressed concern about the additional $4 million devoted to DAF.  Mr. Sanchez said the funding for the pro bono expert witness and testing fund was inadequate and that the amount budgeted for this fund should be doubled to $600,000.  He then moved that the pro bono representation expert funds be increased to $600,000.  Mr. Goff seconded the motion.  Mr. North was extremely concerned about increasing funding without any detailed information in regard to the need for the increase.  He stated that the funding could be increased at a later time after more information was presented to the Board in regard to the need for the increase.  Mr. Sanchez stated that capital post-conviction representation was one of only two mandates to the Board and that it should be adequately funded.  Ms. Hoeffel offered a substitute motion to fund pro bono expert witness and testing fund at $300,000, the same as last fiscal year.  Mr. Gamble seconded the motion.  The motion passed with Mr. Sanchez and Mr. Goff in opposition.  The Board then discussed the $4 million in additional funding to DAF.  The additional funds were to be distributed only to assist the district boards in compliance with the new standards.  Mr. Goff thought the money could be misused by the district boards.  Mr. Goff then suggested that a separate fund be established for the additional $4 million called CAF – Compliance Assistance Fund.  Board members agreed this was a good idea.  At this time Rev. Krutz voted that the budget as recommended by the Budget Committee be approved subject to the change that the $4 million in additional funds to the district boards be allocated to the Compliance Assistance Fund and that the budget of the Louisiana Appellate Project be increased to $1.3 million dollars.  Mr. Gamble seconded the motion which passed without opposition.

 

Proposal by Orleans Indigent Defender Program.  Derwyn Bunton, a member of the Orleans Public Defender Office addressed the Board in regard to a proposal to fund the Orleans PDO at the level recommended by the Bureau of Justice Assistance.  Mr. Bunton described the inadequacies of indigent defense in Orleans Parish prior to Hurricane Katrina, including excessive attorney caseloads, lack of client contact, record keeping, office space and office equipment.  Mr. Bunton advised that the new Orleans PDO Board was meeting weekly at the Louisiana Supreme Court to address the current crisis.  Mr. Bunton said the office had 42 attorneys pre-Katrina and only 28 post-Katrina.  The Orleans PDO had obtained a lease for new office space and was increasing salaries for all attorneys.  Ms. Smitko asked how the office had expended the funds that the LIDAB provided to it since January 2006.  Mr. Bunton responded that the LIDAB money was used to increase attorney salaries and hire new attorneys.  Ms. Smitko asked for the current income of the Orleans PDO.  Mr. Bunton stated that the office expected $3,088,098 in income in 2006.  He said the Danielle Berger was the finance person in the office and that she could provide more detailed information.  He said the office currently had expenditures of $32,000 per month.  Mr. North suggested the office seek donation of office equipment.  Ms. Smitko requested that Mr. Bunton provide the LIDAB with an accounting of all funds it had received from the LIDAB since January 2006.  Mr. Bunton said the office would provide the account and thanked the Board for its consideration of the proposal indicating that the Orleans PDO would be grateful for any funding the LIDAB may provide it.

 

Questions and Answers with Patti Puritz, Director National Juvenile Defender Center.  Ms. Puritz graciously traveled to New Orleans to address the Board in regard to juvenile representation in Louisiana.  Ms. Puritz stated that indigent defense in Louisiana was bad for adults and even worse for juveniles and that the model office proposed by the National Juvenile Defender Center and the Southern Juvenile Defender Center were important steps toward improving indigent defense for juveniles.  Ms. Smitko asked the status of the grant that the Annie C. Casey Foundation was to provide to Louisiana for juvenile justice.  Ms. Puritz stated that the Casey Foundation was to provide juvenile justice to five judicial districts in Louisiana, which included the same parishes as the MacArthur Foundation was choosing for juvenile justice grants:  Jefferson, Rapides, Calcasieu, Caddo, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Iberia.  Ms. Puritz said that only a small portion of these grants would go to juvenile indigent defense.  The Casey grant was focused on limiting detention of juveniles, the opportunity to consult with counsel and over-representation of minorities in detention.  The MacArthur Foundation grant was to focus more on policy changes and would assist with only training in the area of juvenile defense.  Ms. Puritz stated that the proposal from NJDC and SJDC was important to provide the holistic representation necessary for juveniles and to change the culture of juvenile indigent defense in Louisiana.  Ms. Smitko stated that the holistic approach was desirable, but that many of the services such as education specialist, mental health provider and social worker were outside the scope of LIDAB’s statutory authority to fund.  Ms. Puritz said the working group was essential to juvenile representation.  Providing more money to the district boards would not work because the culture of juvenile defense would not be improved.  Ms. Snead opined that the Board must come up with a policy that includes education and experts as part of indigent defense.  Ms. Smitko said she would appoint a committee to work on juvenile defense issues. 

 

 

Director’s Report.  Mr. Greenlee briefly advised the Board that the Louisiana Appellate Project, the first program established by the LIDAB was celebrating its 10th anniversary and congratulated its director, Jim Looney, on his success with the LAP program.  Board members offered congratulations to Mr. Looney.

 

Adjournment.  There being no additional business brought to the attention of the Board, Mr. Sanchez moved that the meeting be adjourned.  Ms. Hoeffel seconded the motion which passed without objection.