Richmond Times-Dispatch

Assembly action on fee caps urged
- Eleven ex-attorneys general sign letter on defense of indigent

BY TOM CAMPBELL
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Friday, April 14, 2006

Eleven former Virginia attorneys general are urging the General Assembly to include in the state budget improvements in the way courts pay lawyers appointed to represent indigent criminal defendants.

In a letter dated yesterday, the 11 men and women of both parties called for members of the House and Senate budget committees "to support efforts to strengthen Virginia's indigent defense system through adequate funding and reform of the cap structure for court-appointed representations."

The committee members are working, thus far without success, in special session to merge their two disparate biennial budgets into one both houses will adopt. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine called the assembly back into session after it failed to pass a state budget in the regular session.

Many lawyers say the assembly limits on how much circuit courts can pay lawyers mean appointed lawyers are underpaid. During the regular session, lawyers who want the caps eliminated drafted -- but have not filed -- a federal class-action lawsuit that claims the current fee system violates the constitutional rights of indigent defendants.

"Virginia's mandatory fee caps do not provide a fair opportunity to many indigent defendants to present their case to the trier of fact," the attorneys general letter says. "The security of all our citizens depends on a fair and error-free legal defense system. . . . We encourage the General Assembly to resolve the deficiencies plaguing the indigent defense system in Virginia during this budget session so the federal courts will not be called upon to intervene in this important issue."

Those who signed the letter are Jerry W. Kilgore, William G. Broaddus, J. Marshall Coleman, Richard Cullen, Mark L. Earley, Mary Sue Terry, James S. Gilmore III, Gerald L. Baliles, Stephen D. Rosenthal, Anthony F. Troy and Andrew P. Miller. According to a news release, only two of all living former attorneys general did not sign. Those two were constrained from taking part because of the offices they now hold.

According to legislative Web sites, the two sides are far apart on this issue.

The current House budget calls for adding $1.3 million in each of the two budget years so the caps could be waived when the crime alleged carries a penalty of 20 years or more. That would be on top of the governor's proposed budget calling for about $87 million the first year and about $88.3 million the second year.

The current Senate version calls for fully funding the indigent defense system under the existing caps by adding about $1.4 million the first year and about $344,000 the second year. The amendment also states the intention of the legislature to eliminate the caps effective July 1, 2007, and directs the Virginia Supreme Court to make a report by Sept. 15 on steps necessary to eliminate the caps and provide appropriate representation to indigent defendants.



Contact staff writer Tom Campbell at tcampbell@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6416.