KMPH Fox 26 Central San Joaquin Valley News Source in Fresno, California Entertainment, News, Sports and Weather | Hearing Held On Legality Of Fresno Public Defender Budget Cuts

Hearing Held On Legality Of Fresno Public Defender Budget Cuts

A Fresno Superior Court judge ruled Friday that he'll use the next 90 days to make a decision on a lawsuit filed against the Fresno County Board of Supervisors.

Judge Jeffrey Hamilton will look into whether supervisors broke the law when they slashed the budget for the public defenders office.

The hearing came after a local union sued the board, claiming that when they cut the Public Defender's Office budget by $1.5 million dollars, it caused the office to lay off six lawyers and six investigators. "This was the worst fiscal crisis since the great depression," said Senior Deputy Council Bruce Johnson."The board was under a duty to balance the budget. In light of the circumstances the board cut not just the public defender, but all the county departments and that's lawful."

However the union claims these layoffs have made it difficult for the office to take cases. Since the law requires counties to provide legal defense to those who can't afford lawyers, the courts hired private lawyers and the county had to pay for them, at an increased cost to taxpayers. The union claims this was a deliberate move toward privatization and that is illegal.

"They knew it was going to happen and it did happen," says Scott Baly, a Defense Attorney at the Public Defender's Office. "Indigent Defense Representation is part of our constitution. It's part of our guarantee of civil liberties and our government."

Tune into the KMPH Ten O'Clock News to hear more on this story.