North Dakota Commission Up
and Running
Less than three years after a North Dakota State Bar Task Force was
formed to study the state’s indigent defense system, a new indigent
defense commission is established and funded and a new director is
in place.
Formed in 2003, the Task Force, with the assistance of the American
Bar Association’s Bar Information Program (ABA-BIP), asked The
Spangenberg Group (TSG) to perform a study of the state’s system.
In April of last year, a little over a year after the study was released,
the North Dakota Legislature passed a bill to create the Commission
on Legal Counsel for Indigents and later approved the funding of the
Commission. On January 1st of this year, all the state’s indigent
defense funds were appropriated to the new Commission.
While North Dakota was essentially a state-funded system prior to
the new commission, the system suffered from a serious lack of funding
and a lack of independence from the judiciary. In 2002, the average
cost per capita for indigent defense was $3.23, and until now, North
Dakota was the only state system that relied primarily on the services
of private attorneys working under contracts with judges.
Six members of the Commission have been appointed by the Governor,
Legislature, Chief Justice, and the State Bar; a seventh appointment
is still pending. Three Commission members sat on the State Bar Task
Force. The Commission’s duties include establishing standards
regarding eligibility, attorney qualifications and caseloads, and
establishing regional public defender offices where appropriate.
Last November, the Commission hired a new director, Attorney Robin
Huseby, who has in turn hired a deputy and an administrative assistant.
The Director is responsible for the attorney contracts and the assignment
of counsel. As of January 1, 2006, assignments have been removed from
the courts and are being made according to a process developed by
a lead attorney in each judicial district and approved by the Director.
The Director’s office has also taken over the responsibility
of maintaining and tracking the indigent defense data for the state.
In addition, the Commission has approved the creation of the first
three public defender offices in the state. The offices are to be
located in the less-populated western part of the state, where it
had been difficult to find private attorneys to agree to contracts.
These offices have been approved for a total of seven attorneys, one
paralegal, and three support staff positions.
With this new system, North Dakota dramatically increased its indigent
defense funding. In the 2003-2005 biennium, the state appropriated
$4.3 million for indigent defense. For the new system in 2005-2007,
the funding more than doubled to $9.5 million, including over $800,000
to fund the Commission.
For more information contact tsg@spangenberggroup.com
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