MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. — There will be more public defenders to represent people charged with crimes in Muskegon County. On Tuesday night, County Commissioners approved the creation of 11 new positions that will be paid for by a state grant.
The public defender's office showed a need for the new positions but more cases will also mean more work for the county prosecutor's office.
"Seventy percent of the cases here in Muskegon County are of indigent defense, which means that people that are at a threshold in their income where they can't really afford a defender, so they request a public defender," said County Commissioner, Charles Nash.
During the Muskegon County Commission meeting on Tuesday, County Commissioners approved the creation of 11 new positions in the Public Defender's Office that will represent people charged with crimes, but can't afford an attorney.
Muskegon County Prosecutor DJ Hilson said an increase in those cases will mean more work for his overworked staff in the prosecutor’s office.
"The state funds this to the tune of almost $200 million and which is spread across the state, of course. My lawyers and my support staff handle more cases per lawyer every year than they're supposed to, and they do it because they have a passion for the job. Ultimately, when the public defender's office creates these positions and creates sort of that unbalance or inequity, if you will, we have to rightsize that," said Hilson.
The new public defender positions are being funded by the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission or MIDC grant.
They include assistant public defenders, a research attorney, a legal secretary and a legal investigator. Nash said the new public defender, Amy Campanelli, applied for the grant.
"She was able to get the support of them to help support her, because they feel like per case, they're overwhelmed, they're overloaded, and so now she's got more ammunition to be able to do that adequately, and we just appreciate her bringing her knowledge and our wisdom to get that support from them so that we can actually serve our community better," said Nash.
Nash said he hopes the new public defender positions will help the county's criminal justice system.
"Now that these services are being provided, we just want to make sure that we're providing them accurately so that people can get the support they need. I mean, this is another reason why sometimes the jail and the prisons get bigger and get filled because they don't have any support for them to be, you know, fighting some of the charges that they have, and we may be locking up a lot of innocent people," said Nash.
"My staff shouldn't handle two and three times the caseload. You just get burnt out. Ultimately, an imbalanced system doesn't do the criminal justice system good. Truly, we need to have a little bit because counties can't foot the same bill," said Hilson.