The crisis in providing legal counsel for poor defendants

IF THE CHARGES are true, Jamie Ryan Weis committed a heinous crime: robbing, beating and shooting to death a woman in Pike County, Ga., in 2006. Mr. Weis has pleaded not guilty to the charges, for which the state is seeking the death penalty. But he has yet to be tried. The reason: delays caused primarily by the state's inability to pay for an attorney for Mr. Weis.

In Georgia, a defendant facing possible execution is entitled to two lawyers; the state picks up the tab if the defendant is unable to pay. Mr. Weis was first assigned attorneys from the Georgia public defender's office, which employs full-time, salaried lawyers to represent poor defendants. But the public defender was overwhelmed, with some lawyers carrying hundreds of cases. The office, as it is permitted to do, commissioned two outside lawyers to take the capital case.

State money for the lawyers dried up and officials noted that funds would probably not be available for months. The shortage left the defense lawyers unable to pay investigators or cover their own expenses. After months of legal wrangling and delays directly related to the funding shortage, the prosecutor asked the judge to remove the outside lawyers and replace them with the public defender -- a move vigorously opposed by Mr. Weis and the public defender. The judge granted the request.

The matter is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, which is being asked to determine whether the delays have violated Mr. Weis's constitutional right to a speedy trial. But the case is perhaps more significant for what it says about the health of legal defense for the poor in Georgia and beyond.

Public defenders throughout the country are throwing up their hands, in some instances begging judges not to assign them new cases. According to the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, defendants facing lesser criminal charges in some jurisdictions are processed through the system without ever speaking with a lawyer, even though they face jail time and are constitutionally entitled to representation.

In more serious cases, public defenders often trudge on, sometimes carrying staggering caseloads that prevent them from providing meaningful representation to every client, even those whose lives are at stake.

The shortage of funds has been exacerbated by the country's financial crisis and the fact that ever more defendants are unable to pay for their own representation. But competent counsel is essential to bolster faith in the criminal justice system. Savvy prosecutors understand that a lax or nonexistent defense can put convictions at risk on appeal. Above all, a well-functioning public defender system is needed to avert the travesty of innocents imprisoned or executed.