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Public defender seeks staff to expand public defense share and reduce private-bar costs
Summary
Chief Defender Genesis Draper said the office increased misdemeanor appointments from 20% to 31% in a year and asked for 35 post-bar fellows and 22 lateral hires to reach the court's 50% target and build capacity for capital cases.
Genesis Draper, chief defender for Harris County, told Commissioners Court the public defender's office increased its share of misdemeanor appointments from 20% to 31% in a year and is expanding fellowship and recruitment efforts to reach a 50% target for appointments over the next three to five years. "Choosing not to fund this request does not save Harris County money, but instead invests that money in continued overreliance on the private bar," Draper said.
The PDO requested funding for 35 additional post-bar fellows, 22 lateral attorneys and support staff to handle weekend and felony appointments and to build a pipeline for future capital-representation capacity. Draper pointed to measurable gains in mental-health referrals and other performance metrics and said expanded in-county recruiting, travel and targeted incentives (including for bilingual attorneys) are part of the recruitment plan.
Provenance: Public Defender presentation and Q&A (topicintro: SEG 4339; topfinish: SEG 4966).
