The Defenders Union of Colorado (DUC) stands in solidarity with our Aurora Municipal Public Defenders Office. On Oct 9, 2023, Aurora City Council Members voted to look into the costs of privatizing their public defenders office, after concerns about the cost of funding this necessary constitutional service. The five Republicans and one Independent Council members who voted in favor of this initiative appear to question whether it would be cheaper to lean more on the state or assign private attorneys.
This is a false narrative. Not only are contract and other assigned attorneys less effective than a public defender system, they are typically far more expensive. For instance, the General Assembly’s Joint Budget Committee reported the average cost per case for the state public defender in fiscal year 2021-22 was $646, while the average cost per case handled by the Office of Alternate Defense Counsel during the same time period was $1,581.
Indeed, DUC suspects the party-line vote on the Council was not motivated by costs, but rather by a desire to neutralize the municipal PD system and its highly effective defense of indigent clients. In the last several years, the Aurora Municipal Public Defenders Office, led by Doug Wilson and Elizabeth Cadiz, has been exceptionally effective in defending its indigent clients and rooting out prosecutorial misconduct.
As state public defenders, DUC knows that we could not do our jobs without the municipal public defenders. In an age where excessive caseloads already lead to burnout and resignations, the municipal public defenders are essential in sharing that load by taking cases that would otherwise go to state public defenders. Several hundred misdemeanor cases go through the municipal courts, on top of the hundreds of misdemeanor cases that go through state courts. Without the municipal court public defenders to take those cases, caseloads for state public defenders would balloon exponentially, leading to more burnout, resignations, and loss of institutional expertise – problems that have already pushed Colorado’s state public defender system (and PD systems around the country) into crisis.
But beyond that, the municipal court public defenders are our allies in the fight for justice and our kin in indigent defense. They share our calling to show up every day to provide quality representation to some of the most vulnerable members of our society. The municipal public defenders are dedicated to their work and the Aurora City Council will be hard pressed to find attorneys with equivalent expertise or cost-effectiveness. To replace them would be a great injustice to the clients they serve and the community as a whole.
DUC stands with our fellow indigent defenders and our clients in solidarity and urges the Aurora City Council against eliminating the Aurora Municipal Public Defenders Office.
— Carly Hamilton, James Hardy, and Matt Haugen Executive Board Co-Chairs, Defenders Union of Colorado
Or could it be that the City Council is just trying to investigate if it would be cheaper to eliminate a costly Aurora governmental agency by privatization? The letter writers say it won’t be but they will lose fees if we go that way. Let it play out and cheapest method wins. Just what Council is saying.
So indigent defendants have a right to the cheapest attorneys money can buy?
I’ve seen this movie before. It doesn’t end well.
think the post showed that it isn’t cheaper, didn’t I read that??
This entire editorial argues a separate subject. It is a classic red herring fallacy. The council has only agreed to study the current public defender model versus another (in place with numerous municipalities) which could potentially save the city money. Why not compare? For as much as Marcano, Coombs, and Murillo espouse “evidence-based” solutions, do these leftists now not want to follow science?
Putting out an RFP isn’t studying the effectiveness. It’s asking for bids on the office. The city council hasn’t done any research into this issue. They don’t like that the public defender’s office does a great job for its clients and people aren’t going to jail as fast as they want.
Dunno how I’d feel if my lawyer was the cheapest that money could buy!
no offense, but I wouldn’t be too concerned about that. Just because the city wants to pay more doesn’t mean the results would be any different.