Fri, Apr 12th, 2024 - 5:52am
January 12, 2022 - 7:41am | By Kyle Cornell
(St. Paul, MN) -- Some Minnesota public defenders are asking lawmakers for help dealing with heavy workloads and high turnover.
Ramsey County assistant public defender Cara Gilbert told House Judiciary Committee members this week that clients suffer when their lawyers are overworked. Gilbert says her job is made tougher because she's not able to build trust with the juvenile clients she works with because of time constraints.
The goal of state policy is to limit public defenders to 500 case units per year. The Minnesota Board of Public Defense Chief Administrator says over 50 public defenders quit in 2021, exceeding resignations in previous years.
