Allen County commissioners passing three resolutions on Thursday hoping it will fill the gap when it comes to representation for indigent defendants.
With an already short list of appointed attorneys and medical issues with public defenders, commissioners were asked by the courts to make some changes to attract new lawyers. With the new legislation, the county will contract with two local attorneys at $400 per day to cover the public defenders hours at Lima Municipal Court in August and September. They have also increased the per hour rates and caps for domestic and juvenile common pleas court cases from $50 to $75. The goal is to create a pool of qualified attorneys for the upper-level felonies and the possible creation of a county public defender's office.
"As we go forward with these rates and we see what attorneys are out there, I think it's going to be a data collection. You know, yes, we're providing a public defender, representation for those that need it, but on the administrative side, we're going to collecting that data to see where we're at, to see where the need is, to see how many attorneys we may need if we do have a public defender's office," explained Cory Noonan, Allen County commissioner.
Noonan says making the financial decision of the increase in rates for qualified attorneys may put the county in a bit of a pinch until they start getting the increased compensation from the state in the recently passed budget for indigent defense representation.
