WASHINGTON — The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) and the American Council of Chief Defenders (ACCD) have released a joint statement condemning the $26,000 fine levied against San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju.
San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Harry M. Dorfman fined Raju $1,000 for each person charged by the district attorney that Raju’s office declined to represent in court. Raju was found in contempt March 10 for not taking on dozens of new criminal cases this year while his office has been overwhelmed by their existing workload. Raju intends to appeal the decision, and said his office needs 36 additional lawyers to adequately handle cases.
“The court must respect the independence of a chief defender and work with them to uphold this fundamental principle to safeguard justice in the legal system,” said April Frazier Camara, NLADA President and CEO. “It is imperative that public defenders operate independently and determine the volume of cases that their offices can handle. Holding a public defender in contempt for not adhering to a judge’s determination of caseload is deeply troubling, not just for San Francisco, but for overwhelmed public defenders nationwide.”
Ellen McDonnell, Chief Public Defender for Contra Costa County, was one of nine fellow California chief public defenders who attended the meeting in support of Raju.
“We attended Raju’s hearing as a show of support for public defenders across California and the country,” McDonnell said. “Judges are not equipped to determine the correct volume of cases public defenders can handle, and we commend Mano Raju for standing strong to defend the right to effective counsel.”
Danny Engelberg, Chair of ACCD and Chief Public Defender at the Orleans Public Defenders in New Orleans, Louisiana, echoed a similar sentiment and said underresourcing is a problem for public defenders everywhere.
“Mano Raju continues to be a strong defender of the right to effective counsel, and of the constitutional obligation we as public defenders have to properly defend our clients,” Engelberg said. “The contempt order already created an additional burden for Raju’s office, and taking financial resources away from the office for this fine will create an additional burden on adequately defending clients. Neither the fine nor the contempt order will do anything to address the root problem: Raju’s office, like many across the country, is inadequately funded."
NLADA and ACCD, among others, participated in a National Public Defense Workload Study in 2023 that called for a significant reduction in the maximum recommended caseloads. The study, which updated standards last addressed in 1973, found that current workloads stretched public defenders too thin, to the detriment of clients, their families, and the community at large.
Public defenders fulfill a constitutional duty to provide counsel, but offices across the country are pushed to their limit — public defense has been underfunded for decades when compared to police and prosecution. Raju’s office has the highest workload in the Bay Area, representing an unreasonable amount of work for their staff, and impacting their existing clients. The increasing caseloads have had a ripple effect across the court system, with the recent court clerks’ strike also citing overwhelming workloads.
Underfunded public defense is a nationwide trend:
- The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that more than 1,400 pending criminal cases across the state must be dismissed due to a severe shortage of public defenders.
- The Washington Supreme Court announced a significant reduction in public defender caseload limits, requiring phased implementation to achieve at least a 10% decrease annually.
- The Iowa Supreme Court upheld public defenders invoking a “temporary overload” rule to decline new cases.
- In Los Angeles, the Alternate Public Defender’s Office turned down 83 homicide cases amid a 20-30% surge in caseloads.
For more information, please contact Rabiah Alicia Burks at [email protected].
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The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA), founded in 1911, is America's oldest and largest nonprofit association devoted to excellence in the delivery of legal services to those who cannot afford counsel. NLADA has pioneered access to justice at the national, state, and local levels, playing a leadership role in the creation of public defender systems and other important institutions from The Sentencing Project to the Legal Services Corporation. A leader in the development of national standards for civil legal aid and public defense, NLADA also provides advocacy, training, and technical assistance for equal justice advocates across the country.
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