Public defenders are strapped for cash, and some are saying things are so tight, it鈥檚 creating a constitutional crisis for New Mexicans facing charges. The made its case for more funding at the Roundhouse on Monday.
In some New Mexico districts, public defenders are representing two or three times the number of people that they should. That鈥檚 what Michael Stout of the Public Defender Commission told the Senate Finance Committee. "And obviously they cannot do it. It鈥檚 a physical impossibility to do that," he said. "The numbers don鈥檛 add up."
That means there鈥檚 not just an issue of the state not providing good enough representation, but in some circumstances, there鈥檚 no lawyer present at stages where a defendant has the constitutional right to an attorney.
"If the state of New Mexico cannot afford to defend a case, then the state of New Mexico cannot afford to prosecute that case," Stout said.
Dismissing a case because of these problems is the last thing any judge wants to do, Stout said, but those arguments are being made in court.
There are 92 vacant positions at the public defender鈥檚 offices around the state, roughly half support staff and half attorneys.
