Cochise County officials discuss indigent defense budget, request funds for expert reviews and training

Cochise County public defender leaders told the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 26, 2025, that vacancies and rising trial and evidence-review costs are straining the county’s indigent defense budget and asked the board to create a $15,000 professional-services fund and increase training and judicial-related expense lines.

The county’s public defender, Charles, and Andrew Marcy, director of the legal advocate, presented staffing, caseload and cost details during a work session that was held in person and via Microsoft Teams. Charles said the public defender’s office expects a senior dependency attorney to retire in June and proposed increasing three part-time dependency attorneys from 21 to 30 hours per week rather than creating a new full-time replacement.

Why it matters: County officials said the offices face both shortfalls in experienced staff and variable, sometimes large, trial-related expenses — including accident reconstruction, fire investigation and specialized forensic work — that make year-to-year budgeting unpredictable. Charles and Marcy said investing in pre-screening of voluminous digital and…