Public-Defender Pay Addressed

Package lets pay caps be waived for lawyers representing indigent

February 28, 2007
By Jim Nolan

Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

Virginia's public defenders and commonwealth's attorneys will receive additional funds as part of a $12.9 million criminal-justice package that includes legislation to waive caps on fees paid to court-appointed defense lawyers.

The package passed by the General Assembly was pushed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine with the support of Attorney General Bob McDonnell, justice advocacy groups and legislators.

The bulk of the money $8.2 million -- will finance the bill that allows judges to waive the caps on fees.

Advocates for indigent defendants say that prior to the legislation, Virginia had the lowest fees in the country for court-appointed work and was the only state without a provision allowing judges to waive caps on complicated cases.

But the funding package also includes $268,000 set aside to fund an ongoing program to provide salary increases to help retain midcareer prosecutors in commonwealth's attorney's offices across the state.

The funding package also provides an additional $3.5 million for state public defender offices, where low pay has led to high turnover in recent years.

"This is long overdue, and I think it's going to make a major difference," said David Johnson, executive director of the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission, the agency that oversees the public defenders in 25 offices and qualifies lawyers to accept court-appointed cases.

Johnson said that lagging salaries and case overload resulted in a debilitating 27 percent staff turnover last year and made it even more difficult to fill vacant positions.

Virginia has approximately 2,000 public defenders who are assigned by judges to represent poor defendants. Court-appointed attorneys represent indigent defendants in areas where there are either no public defenders, or where there is a conflict in representation of defendants within a public defender's office.

Johnson said the additional funding will allow the agency to fill 26 more positions and provide a 9 percent raise to current defenders, whose starting salary is $42,600, well below the pay level for most prosecutors and government lawyers.

"It's certainly not going to bring parity," Johnson said. "But I think it will do a lot to decrease the turnover rate we've had."