Kosciusko County creates 'Public Defender Agency' amid near-crisis shortage

WARSAW, Ind.-- With too many cases and not enough public defenders to go around, Kosciusko County is tackling that issue head-on with a new dedicated office, dubbed the "Public Defender Agency."

Jack Birch, now Kosciusko County's chief public defender, said the public defender shortage was approaching a crisis locally. He said Kosciusko County has seen 1,700- 1,800 public defender cases in the past two years. 

"A person who can't afford their own lawyer can't be tried for a criminal case until there is a lawyer to handle it," Birch said. "So that would mean a case that should be tried in six to eight months might not be tried for years."

That's exactly what's happening, Birch says, in Kosciusko County. Sheriff Jim Smith confirmed it's a problem.

"We're sitting on, currently, 233 inmates in our jail, and of those, 109 are sitting there with pre-trial hearings that are pending," Smith said. "So, what does that mean? I mean, we don't know, some of them would have a hard time telling you what their official charges are, how long they're going to be there, or maybe, quite frankly, who their attorney even is. And that's stemming from the lack of local public defender attorneys here in Kosciusko County."

This issue is a strain on county- and taxpayer-- resources. That's why the county approved the creation of the Public Defender Agency, Smith said.

"So, by creating this new program, it addresses that very problem," Smith said.

The office just opened on July 1 inside the Kosciusko County Justice Building.

"We believe that our office will help move cases through the system significantly faster," Birch said.

It staffs four full-time public defender attorneys, which can be rare, because lawyers will typically serve as public defenders on the side of private practice. The office also has additional contracts or part-time attorneys.

"We think we create a lot of efficiencies within the entire criminal justice system by having this office," Birch said.

Also, it maintains more balance in the adversarial court system, Birch argued; a judge will no longer appoint a public defender for someone's case, instead it will go straight to this office.

"It takes the actual attorney assignment out of the hands of the judge and puts it into our hands," Birch said.

The Public Defender Agency can be reached at [email protected].