Commissioners to discuss creating county public defender's office

Citing the annual cost of paying attorneys to represent indigent criminal defendants, the Lorain County commissioners is having early discussions about creating a countywide public defender's office. The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the right of all people accused of a crime to have an attorney. If a defendant is indigent and can't afford an attorney, one must be provided for them. In some counties, that's a public defender who is a government-employed attorney. In other counties, like Lorain County, private attorneys are paid by the county to represent criminal defendants. Lorain County spent about $3.8 million in 2024 on indigent criminal defense, according to commissioner David Moore, a Republican, who at an Aug. 1 commissioners meeting brought up the possibility of a county public defender's office. That cost may seem high, but Lorain County has been reimbursed for at least $3 million of that since January, veteran Lorain County criminal defense attorney Zack Simonoff said Thursday. He said he's critical of any plan to replace private appointed defense counsel with public defenders employed by the government, and will be writing an open letter to Moore saying so. Moore: We need a public defender At the commissioners meeting Aug. 1, Moore said 72 criminal defense attorneys were paid $3.8 million by Lorain County to represent the indigent in 2024. Twelve of those 72 attorneys received between $100,000 and $194,000 for their services, he said. That's "well above" what comparable-sized counties with dedicated public defender's offices spend, Moore said, citing Montgomery County in southwest Ohio as one example. "We are spending more than necessary, receiving less in return and exposing ourselves to legal and ethical concerns that can be mitigated with one decision: The establishment of a Lorain County Public Defender's Office," Moore said, reading from a prepared statement. He continued: "These costs are unsustainable and are projected to grow with case load, volume and inflation ... with no centralized oversight or control over case assignments, billing or performance outcomes. We are effectively managing a fragmented system with low transparency and minimal long-term efficiencies." Moore said a public defender's office could be created to lower costs per case in the courts, provide accountability and a stable budget while creating "improved legal outcomes and efficiencies which a large body of national research supports." Ohio has 88 counties, and 26 of them have dedicated public defenders offices, he said. Moore also cited a Southern Methodist University study saying the Texas legal system saw lower pretrial detention rates, more dismissed cases, shorter case durations and fewer continuances when cases were handled by dedicated public defenders. Moore said he wanted to invite representatives from the Office of the Ohio Public Defender to visit and discuss the county's options. Commissioner Jeff Riddell, a Republican, said the public, the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office and Common Pleas judges should be involved in further discussions. One of the first steps would be to create a five-member public defender commission in Lorain County. The Lotsin County commissioners get to appoint three members and the administrative judge for Common Pleas Court appoints two. Commissioner Marty Gallagher, a Republican, on Thursday said he was in favor of a county public defender's office. "If you do it right, with oversight, it's a home run," he said. The office would remove political aspirations and and preexisting relationships out of the system of attorney appointments, would lower costs, provide jobs and job experience for young attorneys and would better manage the county's legal defense system, Gallagher said. As one of the largest counties in Ohio, "let's do the right thing, get a good group in there, someone to oversee it, pay attention to the cases, and keep the billing ours down for the people who need it," Gallagher said. "It helps the underdog." Simonoff: Public defender 'a bad idea' The longtime chairman of the Lorain County Bar Association's Criminal Law section, Simonoff said the concept of a Lorain County public defender's office comes up every five to 10 years, "before everyone realizes its's a bad idea." Between May 2024 and April this year, Lorain County got the majority of it what is spent back from the state, to the tune of $3 million in indigent defense reimbursements, said Simonoff, a Democrat and past candidate for Common Pleas and Oberlin Municipal judge. "We're getting that money back," he said. As recently as 2021, the county got 100 percent of indigent defense costs reimbursed by the state, Simonoff said. Lorain County is the largest Ohio county without a dedicated public defender's office, Simonoff said, but county officials and the legal community have figured out how to make indigent defense work without one. "I don't think it's economical for us," he said, with the vast majority of criminal defense attorneys in Lorain County being small, solo practitioners who take appointments from the courts that are assigned fairly and spread out fairly. Creating a public defender's office means creating more county employees, paying them a good salary and benefits, Simonoff said. There are state codes that set the maximum number of cases a public defender can handle each year, and even in counties with public defenders nearly 50 percent of cases end up going to appointed counsel, he said. Everyone has a Sixth Amendment right to effective counsel, Simonoff said. The county bar association has had "many" meetings with county officials and judges over the years to make sure there is a process for appointments and that appointed defense attorneys use best practices to defend their clients. "What benefit does it have to us to go choose a government solution when we have a working private solution?" Simonoff asked. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.