Feature Story

By Rob Holbert Managing Editor

Mobile indigent defense cases and payments continue to rise

*By Rob Holbert

Managing editor*

It seems defending the poor is still very lucrative work for some area attorneys, and it appears to be getting better.

In July 2007, Lagniappe looked at Mobile County’s indigent defense system and the attorneys assigned to defend those accused of crimes who are too poor to afford legal counsel. At that time the most expensive year of indigent defense in Mobile County was $2.7 million. But for the fiscal year from Oct. 1 2007 – Sept. 30, 2008, that amount jumped to $3.4 million according to records from the Alabama Department of Finance.

In their defense, the defense attorneys seem to be handling a larger load now than they were even a couple of years ago. For example, in 2006-2007 the top 20 highest paid indigent defense attorneys worked 3,175 cases. In the ‘07-’08 year, the top 20 handled 4,172, a 31 percent increase. But pay has more than kept up.

The top 20 attorneys were paid $1.13 million for their work in ‘06-’07, but that number shot up to $1.9 million for ‘07-’08, more than $780,000 more – a 69 percent increase. The top 20 averaged $62,915 two years ago, and last year averaged $91,213.

But just as when Lagniappe originally looked at indigent defense pay, the disparity between top earners and others in the system is stark. For example, when first looked at indigent defense, attorney Habib Yazdi was the highest paid attorney. According to Department of Finance records, he was paid $174,339 for defense work and overhead from May 1, 2006 to April 30, 2007. He handled 445 cases in that time.

During the time from Oct. 1, 2007 – Sept. 30, 2008, Department of Finance records show he was paid $247,819 for handling 566 cases. The records show Yazdi’s caseload increased 16 percent while his pay increased 42 percent.

And Yazdi appears to have been dethroned as the king of indigent defense, at least when it comes to remuneration. In our earlier examination, attorney Lee Hale was paid $112,931 for handling 163 cases. The most recent report shows he was paid $255,300 for handling 239 cases, a 46 percent increase in caseload and 126 percent increase in pay.

Overall, indigent defense attorneys handled 9,996 cases for the 2007-2008 period examined. Attempts to speak with local officials about the increased caseload and payments were unsuccessful, as most deferred to Circuit Court Judge Charles Graddick, who is presiding judge for the circuit and submits the paperwork for payment of indigent defense. Calls to Graddick’s officer were not returned.

David Sawyer, an attorney for the Alabama Administrative Office of Courts, said the increased payments could be partially explained by the fact that the Supreme Court issued an opinion restoring overhead pay to indigent defense attorneys. Such overhead was withheld in 2005 and 2006 after Attorney General Troy King issued an opinion it shouldn’t be paid. Currently indigent defense attorneys are being paid $60 per hour for in-court time, $40 per hour for out-of-court time and $25 per hour for overhead.

Sawyer says indigent defense payment has grown all across the state and that some districts are moving to find ways to keep the costs down, including contracting with attorneys or forming public defenders’ offices.

“It costs less, definitely,” Sawyer said. He added that there have been bills offered in the Legislature in the past -that will be offered again this coming year – trying to establish an Indigent Defense Office that would create a way to make things more economically efficient.

Right now, Sawyer said, indigent payments are supposed to be covered by the Fair Trial Tax Fund, but that covers only about a third of the actual costs.

“The rest of it comes out of the general fund,” Sawyer said.

Sawyer said two public defenders offices have been established in Alabama within the past five years and they are finding it saves their districts money.

In the past, some attorneys have criticized the way appointments are handed out in the Mobile circuit because it seems certain attorneys are more likely to get lots of cases from certain judges. For instance, when we looked at indigent defense before, Graddick assigned 23 percent of all his indigent cases to Hale. The latest numbers from the Department of Finance don’t break the appointments down by judge, so it was not obvious which judges accounted for Hale’s tremendous increase in appointments.

Sawyer says there is little that is uniform in the way cases are handed out. Simply put, different judges and different circuits do it different ways, and there appears to be little oversight as to how it works.

“It really rests with the local indigent defense commission and the judges who oversee it,” Sawyer said.

Top 20 indigent defense attorneys 2007-2008

Attorney Cases Handled Payment

Lee Hale 239 $255,300.60

Habib Yazdi 566 $247,819.75

Gregory Reese 416 $148,465.50

Russell Bergstrom 195 $113,414.65

John Thompson 234 $111,403

Anthony Altadonna 276 $94,490

David Zimmerman 145 $92,117.05

John Steven Dugan 173 $88,393.50

Melinda Maddox 158 $81,977.50

Joseph Bolton 513 $80,705.00

Jason Darley 258 $75,515.00

Christine Hernandez 247 $66,135.75

Deborah McGowin 79 $62,677.50

Glenn Davidson 28 $56,965.75

Jane McLaughlin 108 $55,314.15

Claude Patton 30 $50,829.43

Jennifer Nalu 87 $50,734.25

W. Chris McGough 270 $49,113.25

Joe Kulakowski 52 $46,493.63

Walter Honeycutt 32 $45,732.40

Pete Vallas 66 $41,895.50

Source: Alabama Department of Finance

Rob Holbert is Lagniappe managing editor. Contact him at rholbert@lagniappemobile.com.

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