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Public defenders urge more lawyers, caution workload strains amid rising evidence and mental‑health demands
Summary
Board of Public Defense officials told the House committee the system is strained by rising caseload complexity, increased digital evidence and mental‑health needs and proposed adding lawyers and personnel plus funding to keep salary parity with county attorneys.
Kevin Kyra, chief administrator for the Board of Public Defense, and Bill Ward, the state public defender, told the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee that the public defense system faces rising workload and complexity driven by massive increases in digital evidence, scientific testing, and mental‑health and substance‑use related cases.
Kyra described the board as an independent entity in the judicial branch that appoints the state public defender, allocates legislative funding, and sets operational standards. He said the board’s annual budget is roughly $164,000,000 and that about 90% of that budget pays district‑level public defenders and related direct services.
The Board of Public Defense outlined several pressures: - A lean staffing model: roughly 1,000 total staff statewide, about 600 assistant public defenders and approximately 155 part‑time defenders (local private attorneys working part‑time on…
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