Defenders discussed (11/17/2008)

A Jay County attorney expressed concerns that a new hire in the public defender's office could cut work for hometown lawyers with less experience.

Although the county's office is overloaded with cases - a fact that could cause the state to cut a hefty reimbursement that helps fund the program - contracting an attorney to the public defender's office to alleviate the stress will be tricky.

Since the state has certain requirements for the position, notably an amount of trial experience, the county would likely have to look beyond its borders to find someone to fill the position.

However, local attorneys who need to build up some court time could then be left without cases.

That was a concern expressed by attorney Greg LeMaster to the Jay County Commissioners this morning. LeMaster, who's short on experience in class C felony or higher trials, has been picking up lower-level cases for the county, but said a new hire would likely cut down the amount of work he would see. For someone who's trying to break into the field, seeing that reduction in Jay County cases could force him to travel to pick up work out of county.

"We're going to be hiring predominately out-of-county attorneys," LeMaster told the commissioners. "There are other attorneys who will be cut out. We're all qualified to take 90 percent of the cases.

"It's going to get worse and worse unless we have some commitment to training younger lawyers," he said.

Deputy public defender Tom Diller, who will take over as head of the office Jan. 1, said it's a sticky spot to be in. New lawyers need the opportunities but the state has experience requirements for new hires to the public defender's office.

"It's the problem when you first start out; everyone wants you to have experience," he said. Diller has worked with younger lawyers like LeMaster to attempt to get them in as a second chair in trials to build some trial time, but said the number of trials in the county had dwindled.

"We've got some pretty experienced police officers," he said. Since the officers are better at collecting information and handling offenses, "There are fewer cases that have to go to trial. It's been difficult to get Greg into the courtroom."

The commissioners told LeMaster they had little control over the actual process of picking a new public defender. They will only have the ability to approve or deny a hire when presented. The selection process will be carried out by a separate board.

Diller was waiting to speak with the commissioners this morning as of press time. For now, Diller just wanted to make county officials aware and get the process moving, since losing the state reimbursement would be more costly than bringing a new lawyer onto the staff.

As for personnel choices at this time, "I haven't even thought about who," he said.

In other business this morning, the commissioners:

•Spoke with Jay County Assessor Terry LeMaster about upgrading one of his employees from part-time to full-time status. LeMaster said upgrading the employee to full time would help to handle personal property reassessment.

LeMaster also presented estimated figures on how much the county is saving after the elimination of township assessors. LeMaster said the county is saving from $40,000 to $60,000 per year due to the changes.

The commissioners told LeMaster they wouldn't make a recommendation on the upgrade to full-time until they researched with other counties to see how many employees are staffing their assessor's office and how they are handling the workload.[[In-content Ad]]