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Public Defense

A collage shows a color photo of the exterior of a jail, with visible barbed wire, within the outline of Pike County. In the background are a map of Mississippi, text from federal filings and black-and-white photos of a water tower reading “Magnolia” and a “Prisoner loading and unloading only” sign.
Jackson May 2
Mississippi Lawmakers Considered Modest Public Defense Reforms. They Rejected All of Them.
With its refusal to impose oversight or consistent standards in local defense, Mississippi risks falling further behind the rest of the U.S., critics say.
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A Black man, wearing a KN95 mask, red shirt, red cap and camo pants, reviews a document while sitting in a courtroom.
Closing Argument July 15
For Many, a Lawyer Is a Luxury Out of Reach
Sixty years after a landmark Supreme Court ruling, the promise of legal representation for everyone is largely unrealized.
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A public defender returns to his office after helping defendants at the Rhode Island District Court in 2017.
Life Inside April 17, 2020
“How Do I Defend People Now?”
Public defenders rely on in-person, confidential meetings with clients. They say COVID-19 makes their jobs nearly impossible.
By Chrissy Madjar, Kenneth Hardin, Eric Quandt and Nathan Wade
Case in Point January 15, 2018
How Social Media Giants Side With Prosecutors in Criminal Cases
Why can’t the defense have access, too?
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Scharlette Holdman, pictured here in 2017, was a well-known death penalty mitigation specialist.
News July 13, 2017
We Saw Monsters. She Saw Humans.
Scharlette Holdman, pioneering foe of the death penalty, dies at 70.
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Thomas Clardy was convicted in 2007 of the murder of Kirk Clouatre. Pictured here in 1994, he is serving a life sentence. He says he is innocent.
Case in Point May 22, 2017
Justice on the Cheap
Thomas Edward Clardy and the trial after the trial.
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Feature September 8, 2016
When Real Estate and Tax Lawyers Are Forced to Do a Public Defender’s Job
Louisiana judges are finding some unexpected substitutes for underfunded defenders.
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FILE - In this Aug. 29, 1995, file photo, O.J. Simpson, second from left, is surrounded by his attorneys, clockwise from left, Ken Spaulding, back towards camera, Gerald Uelmen, Robert Shapiro and Johnnie Cochran Jr., as they discuss their plans for arguing the admissibility of the tapes of retired Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman in Los Angeles. A lawyer for O.J. Simpson in Las Vegas says the imprisoned former football star isn...t happy with portrayals he...s seen in ads and interviews about a cable TV series focusing on his 1995 murder acquittal in Los Angeles. Simpson won...t be able to see the show, “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” as Nevada prisons don...t carry the FX network, which debuts the 10-part show on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. (Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Daily News via AP, Pool, File)
Commentary February 11, 2016
“Look at O.J. ... If He Had a Public Defender, He’d be in Jail.”
Why African-Americans don’t trust the courts, and why it matters.
By Sara Sternberg Greene
News January 28, 2016
Why Getting Sued Could Be the Best Thing to Happen to New Orleans’ Public Defenders
The ACLU takes the cash-poor agency to court to force the cash-poor legislature to pay.
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News October 26, 2015
So Many Defendants, So Little Time
Inside Utah’s troubled indigent defense system.
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