Public defender’s office assigns governor criminal case

Governor Jay Nixon may find himself working as a criminal defense attorney in Cole County.

Michael Barrett, director of the state’s Office of the Public Defender, sent a letter to the Nixon’s office Tuesday, utilizing a law that gives his office power to appoint lawyers in the state to defendant’s who cannot afford their own attorneys. Barrett sued Nixon in July for his latest withholding of the office’s budget. The governor withheld $3.5 million, after revenue for the state came in lower than expected, to balance the budget.

Barrett told ABC 17 News that while the office’s budget went up from last year, it has fallen far short of what’s needed to operate the office. The costs of legal defense, such as depositions, copies of medical records and obtaining expert witnesses for trial, have steadily increased, while his office’s budget often fluctuates. Because of it, he’s had to advise the various state offices to leave vacancies in order to pay for these litigation costs. He wrote to Nixon in order for him to truly experience the work of a public defender.

“Given the extraordinary circumstances that compel me to entertain any and all avenues of relief, it strikes me that I should begin with the one attorney in the state who not only created this problem, but is in a unique position to address it,” Barrett wrote.

Scott Holste, spokesman for Nixon’s office, said the governor takes the defense of indigent people seriously.

“That is why under his administration the state public defender has seen a 15 percent increase in funding at the same time that other state agencies have had to tighten their belts and full-time state employment has been reduced by 5,100,” Holste wrote Thursday morning. “That being said, it is well established that the public defender does not have the legal authority to appoint private counsel.”

In FY 2017, the public defender’s office will receive $41.1 million, after the withholding. That’s a two-million dollar increase over last year’s budget, but $24.2 million difference from what the office requested for FY 2017.

The MSPD lawsuit against Nixon claims his withholding from its office violated the separation of powers. Governor Nixon can only withhold money from offices of the executive branch, not the judicial one. At the same time, the state’s budget for the Department of Corrections, who operate the prisons, has increased, making it harder, in Barrett’s opinion, for those in need of an attorney to receive adequate legal defense.

Barrett would only say the criminal case he’s assigned Nixon to enter as an attorney would be in Cole County, with Judge Patricia Joyce presiding. Barrett said the defendant, who he did not feel comfortable naming yet, has already bonded out of jail.

(Editor’s note, 8/4: This story has been updated with the response from Gov. Nixon’s office.)