Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt continues to push for better legal outcomes for indigent defendants.
During her State of the County address, Eckhardt remarked, “I believe the combination of a public defenders office and a better-resourced managed assigned counsel will improve justice outcomes for all of us.”
However stakeholders still can’t come to an agreement and some in the legal community fear indigents still won’t get a fair shake because of underfunding of both a public defenders office and CAPDS, the managed counsel system.
Eckhardt wants stakeholders to keep talking even though they missed a grant deadline for a public defenders office. “Data shows there are serious disparities in outcomes for indigent defendants relative to those defendants with paid counsel.” One big issue is how much those lawyers are paid. CAPDS, the managed assigned counsel’s fees are very low, below the state average and some worry about how CAPDS and a public defenders office can co-exist.
