A budget hearing was held between the Allen County Public Defender's Office as well as the Allen County Commissioners.
The Public Defenders office stated that in order to meet the increased demand of court cases, a need has arisen to hire two attorneys and one investigator.
One attorney will help with felony cases, while the other will deal with misdemeanors. The investigator would help the public defender's office in gathering information.
"What I wanted to point out today is that now that we are taking on more of these cases, our case loads are getting larger," said Kenneth Sturgill, public defender. "Our attorneys have less time talking with clients and meeting with clients and more time in court. As that continues, my fear is the ability to provide that quality representation would decrease, and that's why an additional attorney would alleviate that."
The Allen County Commissioners will schedule a meeting later this year with the public defenders office with a final decision.
