BOISE, Idaho — Starting Tuesday, October 1st there will be a drastic change in how the public defender's office is run across the State of Idaho, and that has many looking for new lines of work. It could also potentially impact one of the highest profile cases here in the state.
- Starting October 1st the State's public defenders will be under one roof.
- State Public Defender Eric Fredericksen explains how it works.
- How will this impact the Bryan Kohberger trial in Ada County?
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
"The biggest change we're going to have is uniformed representation across the state," said Eric Fredericksen.
Eric Fredericksen was appointed to run the State Public Defender's Office by Governor Brad Little last year. Little signed legislation making Fredericksen responsible for organizing all 44 public defenders under his roof, with the help of District Defenders.
"So, there's a caseload, an X amount of cases today, what happens tomorrow," I asked.
So, we met over the weekend, we had a meeting with all of our district defenders because they are critical to this, they're the ones who are familiar with the areas. We did coverage that all we did this weekend so that we had coverage that everyone was coverage across the state," Fredericksen answered.
The new State Public Defender says this will benefit the entire state. So why are some public defenders not so happy about the change? Current and soon-to-be former Elmore County Public Defender Terry Ratliff is not a big fan of the new system mainly because he says he simply can't afford to stay open.
"They're underfunded, they're undermanned, it's going to be a train wreck. The contract, the offer from the state from the public defenders' office is we'll pay you 100 dollars an hour, we won't pay for any of your staff, and you have to get pre-approvals for paralegals. I can't open the doors to this office at 100 dollars an hour," said Ratliff.
I asked Gem County Public Defender Mark Coonts why he wouldn't be in the office on Tuesday.
"You made a personal choice? I did, with the new contract rates it didn't make sense for me to drive out here, and work as the public defender," said Coonts.
Coonts explains how it works currently and how it will work starting Tuesday, "Each county they were paying their public defenders a certain rate. I would negotiate with the commissioners. Some counties paid $150, $200, now every contract is $100 across the state. In other counties they were making less than that, so they did get a bump," he says.
Fredericksen whose father was a public defender says until he has the data from all 44 counties on this new system, he can't go to lawmakers and ask for more.
"Our goal ultimately is that's not enough for public defenders. We need more but that's where our budget is currently," says Fredericksen.
As far as the high-profile Bryan Kohberger murder trial that will be held in the Ada County courthouse sometime next year, Fredricksen made it clear they want consistent representation in the Kohberger case and that a contract offer has been made to Public Defender Anne Taylor.
