Governor’s budget would help public defenders, their leader says

Posted 12/12/19

CHEYENNE (WNE) — A few weeks after her case was heard by the Wyoming Supreme Court, State Public Defender Diane Lozano spoke in favor of Gov. Mark Gordon’s budget proposal for the 2021-22 …

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Governor’s budget would help public defenders, their leader says

Posted

CHEYENNE (WNE) — A few weeks after her case was heard by the Wyoming Supreme Court, State Public Defender Diane Lozano spoke in favor of Gov. Mark Gordon’s budget proposal for the 2021-22 biennium during the Joint Appropriations Committee meeting Tuesday afternoon.

For more than a year, Lozano has warned the Legislature that her office is essentially in crisis due to heavy caseloads and struggles to retain attorneys. The issue entered the spotlight in May when Lozano said her office could no longer accept misdemeanor cases in Campbell County because of those issues.

Gordon’s budget proposal recommends $34.8 million for the Public Defender’s Office in the 2021-22 biennium. While the governor refused to fund about $3.5 million in additional requests, Lozano said the funding included in his proposal will help her office meet its needs.

“That amount would enable us to pay attorneys at a wage so that they’ll work for us,” Lozano said. “It would enable me to recruit some more experienced attorneys to handle just a couple of cases in Campbell County, or 10 cases in Rock Springs, or 25 cases in Evanston, as the case may be.”

When Lozano directed her Campbell County office to stop handling misdemeanors, 4.5 public defenders were handling the workload of 7.5 attorneys.

Lozano’s refusal to take on the cases in May led the Campbell County Circuit Court to hold her in contempt by fining her $1,500 a day until her local office resumed accepting misdemeanor cases. In response, Lozano filed suit, and the Wyoming Supreme Court heard her case last month.

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