BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The public defender shortage continues in Brown County.
The Criminal Justice Coordinating Board met Tuesday and updated how things are going.
Although the shortage isn’t new, Public Defenders Office Regional Attorney Manager Jeffrey Cano says they have made progress.
He says about a year ago, they had over 400 unassigned cases. They are now down to 231 unassigned cases.
Brown County reaches out to other areas for public defenders, but it does not always work.
“The attorneys that come from other areas have their own areas to cover,” says Cano.
Cano is hoping that graduating classes can provide more attorneys.
“We recently lost an attorney, they left our office, so when I indicated last time that we added two, we took two steps forward and one step back.”
According to the Department of Administration, the hourly wage for public defenders in Wisconsin ranges from $26 to $64 an hour.
Cano says the shortage costs taxpayers more since people are in jail, waiting for an attorney.
“We still have big lock up numbers, so that part doesn’t change.”
“There are just shortages everywhere, and we don’t know how to move these cases along any faster until some of those shortages are addressed,” says Brown County Judge Tammy Jo Hock.
Officials say most of the backlogged cases include felony charges.
“Our misdemeanor numbers are going down down down, and its not because those crimes aren’t happening. It’s because no one from law enforcement to prosecution to defense has the capacity to deal with them,” says Brown County District Attorney David Lasee.
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