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District Court judge pushes back on OPD argument that lack of funding caused case assignment delays – Daily Montanan

['Keith Schubert', 'More From Author', '- May']

Date: 2022-05-29 00:00:00

Harris twice found OPD in contempt of court for not promptly assigning counsel to defendants, resulting in $24,000 worth of fines. In August of 2021, Harris discovered that 663 defendants had not been assigned a public defender in the 13th judicial district, which covers 16 courts throughout Yellowstone, Big Horn, Carbon, and Stillwater counties. The discovery led Harris to hold the department in contempt of court and ordered it to assign attorneys within three days, but months later, Harris discovered the department had failed to abide by his order.

On March 18, OPD Director Rhonda Lindquist filed a petition with the Montana Supreme Court, arguing that Harris overstepped his authority in February’s second contempt of court order. In the petition, OPD argued that lack of funding made it impossible to abide by Harris’ earlier September ruling that required OPD to assign counsel to cases within three working days.

“OPD strives to make assignments within three days, but that is not always possible,” OPD said. “The District Court exceeded its authority when it pounced on OPD’s operational goal and contorted it into a legal requirement with which OPD must comply or face serial fines.”

Problems with funding and high turnover rates, specifically in Billings, for OPD are well documented. Because of the lack of funding from the state, the office has said it is unable to offer competitive wages, leading to high turnover and vacant positions. At a September interim legislative committee meeting, OPD says it is only able to pay its attorneys $56 an hour to contract attorneys — a third of the federal contract rate for public defenders and $13,000 less per year than other state Department of Administration lawyers.

In April, OPD’s employee union and state officials reached a deal to raise wages. Under the new contract, entry-level attorneys would make around $76,000 per year, up from $65,000, and attorneys with three years of experience saw their pay increase from $84,000 per year to $89,000. But it’s unclear if the wage bumps will be enough.

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