NLADA President & CEO Jo-Ann Wallace Testifies before House Judiciary Committee Briefing on Solutions to the Indigent Defense Crisis

Monday, December 14, 2009

Scroll down for the list of panel speakers and a short bio

Today was an historic day for right to counsel advocates nationwide. The United States House Judiciary Committee convened a round table discussion on the failure of states to properly ensure a constitutionally-adequate defense for people of insufficient means facing a potential loss of liberty in our criminal courts.

NLADA President & CEO Jo-Ann Wallace presented testimony in support of statewide reform in the state of Michigan including addressing issues related to underfunding, undue judicial interference, lack of standards, etc., as well as in support of an ongoing role by the federal goverment to fix what US Attorney General Eric Holder has deemed "a national crisis." NLADA President & CEO Jo-Ann Wallace presented testimony in support of statewide reform in the state of Michigan including addressing issues related to underfunding, undue judicial interference, lack of standards, etc., as well as in support of an ongoing role by the federal goverment to fix what US Attorney General Eric Holder has deemed "a national crisis." Federal recommendations raised and debated by Wallace and an eminent panel of national experts included, among others:

• - The creation of a new state assistance program dependent upon compliance with the ABA Ten Principles

  - Enforcement of the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice

  - The creation by Congress of a private right of action so that individual citizens would be able to enforce their Sixth Amendment rights in federal court.

  - A call to adequately fund defense systems while simultaneously considering the needs of the prosecution and law enforcement. In 1999, the last year in which good data on how federal grant money was spent on criminal defense was available, less than 1% of federal grant money went to public defense. To address this imbalance the Congress could:

  1. Require that federal criminal justice system money be given out pursuant to a formula that will maintain balance in the system.
  2. Address issues of parity in other resources (training college, research, data collection, assessment, technical assistance capacities)

     To view the hearing and read more about the panel of experts who testified, please visit http://judiciary.house.gov/news/091203.html

     Speakers
     Judge Cynthia Diane Stephens
     The Honorable Cynthia Stephens has served on the bench since 1981, and currently serves as a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals, previously on the 3rd circuit court in Detroit. She currently is co-chair to the State Bar of Michigan Committee on Justice Initiatives, and through Supreme Court appointments, she has served on task forces and commissions including the Prison Over-Crowding Commission and Race and Ethnic Bias Task Force.

     Judge Fred L. Borchard
     The Honorable Fred Borchard is a Circuit Judge in Saginaw County, and has served as president of the Michigan Judges Association. Previously, he was the Assistant and Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for Saginaw County.

     State Rep. Bob Constan
     The Honorable Bob Constan was elected in 2006 to represent the 16th District in the State House. He is the Chair of the Michigan House Judiciary Subcommittee on Indigent Defense.

     State Rep. Justin Amash
     The Honorable Justin Amash was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2008 representing the 72nd District. He is the vice-chair of the Michigan House Judiciary Subcommittee on Indigent Defense.

     Barry Scheck
     Barry Scheck is Professor of Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York City where he teaches Legal Ethics and is the Director of the Criminal Education and Trial Practice Program. He is the co-founder and co-director of the Innocence Project, a national organization that uses DNA testing to exonerate wrongfully convicted people and implements policy reforms to prevent future injustice. The organization has subsequently contributed to 245 post-conviction DNA exonerations.

     Jo-Ann Wallace
     Jo-Ann Wallace was appointed as the President and CEO of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association in 2005. Prior to that she served as NLADA Senior Vice President and also worked for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia for 14 years, serving as its director for 6 years.

     Robin Dahlberg
     Robin Dahlberg is a Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program. She is on the Board of Directors of the Michigan Campaign for Justice, and serves as also counsel for plaintiffs in Duncan v. Granholm, a lawsuit filed in Michigan state court challenging inadequacies in public defender programs in the Michigan counties of Berrien, Genesee and Muskegon.

     Dawn Van Hoek
     Dawn Van Hoek is the chief deputy director of the Michigan State Appellate Defender Office, and has dedicated her entire legal career to the practice of appellate law. She serves on the board of the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan and the Michigan Campaign for Justice and has previously chaired the State Bar of Michigan’s Representative Assembly.

     Robert Sedler
     Robert Sedler is a professor of law at the Wayne State University, where he teaches Constitutional Law and Conflict of Laws. Professor Sedler has litigated a large number of important civil rights and civil liberties cases in Michigan and elsewhere. He is a frequent commentator on constitutional issues in the Detroit and national media.

     Norman Lefstein
     Norman Lefstein is a professor and dean emeritus at Indiana University School of Law, where he teaches criminal law, criminal procedure, and professional responsibility. His other positions have included service as director of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, an Assistant United States Attorney in D.C., and as a staff member of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice. He is the author of Criminal Defense Services for the Poor, published by the ABA in 1982.

     Anthony T Chambers
     Anthony Chambers is a defense attorney practicing in Detroit. His practice includes criminal defense, white collar crimes, drug crimes, and police misconduct. He has expertise in both the state and federal courts.