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Michigan Indigent Defense Commission outlines standards, grants and staffing needs
Summary
Kristen Stanley Staley, executive director of the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission, told the House Appropriations subcommittee the agency has used state grants since 2019 to build public defense capacity, has implemented minimum statewide standards and seeks four additional full‑time staff to sustain compliance and training work.
Michigan Indigent Defense Commission Executive Director Kristen Stanley Staley told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Licensing and Regulatory Affairs and Insurance and Financial Services that the agency has used statute‑mandated standards and state grant funding to expand and professionalize public defense across Michigan.
Staley said the MIDC’s statutory mandate is to “develop and oversee the implementation of minimum standards on the delivery of indigent defense at the trial level” and to administer grants so local systems can meet those standards. She told the committee the commission enforces standards that include annual training for attorneys, timely attorney‑client contact, case caps, access to investigative and expert services, and an independent public‑defense structure.
The commission, created by the MIDC Act, is a 19‑member body that meets publicly and operates under Michigan’s Open…
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