NLADA Defender Legal Services Director Richard Goemann's Op-Ed on Maricopa County, Ariz. Attorney Published in West Valley View Newspaper

Maricopa County attorney's policies mock concept of fair, equal justice

Date: April 02, 2007

Originally published in the West Valley View, Litchfield Park, Ariz., April 3, 2007

by Richard Goemann

In Maricopa County, according to 2003 Census records, more than 12.8 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. This means there are approximately 460,000 people in the county who would be unable to afford an attorney if they are accused of a crime.

For these individuals, the only hope for fair and equal justice comes in the form of representation provided by Maricopa County's public defenders. However, by nearly doubling the number of cases in which his office seeks the death penalty, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas is wreaking havoc on the county's already overburdened public defenders, threatening the ability of the county's low-income residents to access quality representation and with it, their hope for fair and equal treatment before the law.

In his two-year tenure as the county's top prosecutor, Thomas has radically altered his office's policy regarding the death penalty, even though the number of crimes that qualify for capital punishment has remained steady. The cost of prosecuting, defending and trying capital cases is substantially higher and takes vastly more time and resources to prepare than non-death penalty cases.

Because a human life is at stake, the public defender office has no choice but to shift most of its resources to ensuring competent, diligent representation for each client facing the death penalty. Precious little is left for those in the community who are equally deserving of quality representation, but who are charged with crimes that carry maximum penalties of days, months, or even years of incarceration.

What does this mean for the residents of Maricopa County? When a public defense system is under-funded, it has two options. One option is to seek added funding by persuading the county to raise taxes or cut other services not required by the federal and state constitutions, such as education and the building of roads. The second option is for the public defenders to push caseloads higher, sacrificing their ethical and moral duty to their clients in order to allow courts to process people through a system that no longer seeks justice, but seeks only to move cases through the courts like a conveyor belt pushes meat through a grinder.

In either case, the community loses. When important spending for schools, roads, firefighters and community healthcare is cut, the loss is obvious. But what does it mean when those accused of a crime don't receive quality representation? What are the consequences for the community when the lawyer for the accused goes to court without being sufficiently trained, without performing adequate investigation, without meeting clients, without thoroughly researching the law and without giving each client's case the thoughtful consideration that it deserves?

Answer: The community pays for a judicial system that is unfair to people in the low-income community accused of crimes and risks sending innocent people to prison while the guilty are free to continue to prey on the community. Ultimately, the people who need the protection of a quality criminal justice system the most become cynical and distrustful, damaging law enforcement's ability to investigate and prevent crime.

Our Constitution promises each and every person charged with a crime, regardless of economic status, the right to a fair trial. This promise is the cornerstone of our justice system and must be kept to ensure that justice remains a beacon of hope and security for all people.

County Attorney Thomas may have the legal authority to double the number of cases in which his office seeks the death penalty, but he should assess whether pursuing his agenda is worth undermining the fairness and reliability of his county's entire criminal justice system. The price of Thomas' agenda is too high and the people of Maricopa County will be the ones to pay.

Richard Goemann is director of Defender Legal Services at the National Legal Aid & Defender Association in Washington, D.C.

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