TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV\/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) – Florida lawmakers are returning to Tallahassee Thursday for final budget votes Friday. However, state private defense attorneys are raising an alarm.<\/p>\n
Both assistant state attorneys, those are the prosecutors, and public defenders would get a raise under the new state budget. But the raises would not be the same amount, potentially throwing a wrench in the judicial system.<\/p>\n
Aaron Wayt, president-elect of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said the state is \u201creally close\u201d to a Massachusetts-style meltdown of the court system.<\/p>\n
In Massachusetts, public defenders went on strike last summer, demanding more pay. Many cases were ultimately dismissed because suspects did not have attorneys.<\/p>\n
Under Florida\u2019s budget plan, prosecutors would receive a $10,000 raise, while public defenders would receive $3,500. <\/p>\n
Florida Politics<\/p>\n
Wayt said right now, public defenders only start out making about $60,000, while state attorneys start at a bit higher rate. Furthermore, he said the budget will only enlarge that deficit. <\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe the legislature\u2019s thought of (it) or not, to where you\u2019re going to have the system grind to a halt where there\u2019s not going to be enough public defenders to provide that representation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Wayt said the prosecutors deserve a raise. He\u2019d just like to see it consistent across the board.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really close (to a crisis) because the legislature refuses to listen to the criminal defense bar about how dire this funding issue is,\u201d Wayt said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s the difficult part about the budget process in Florida, how much is done behind closed doors where we don\u2019t get to see what conversations are taking place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawmakers will gavel in Friday morning for the final votes on the budget. After that, the governor has a chance to veto portions of the budget and sign the rest. <\/p>\n
As of Thursday afternoon, the Florida House and the governor\u2019s office have not responded to our requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Florida Senate President referred our questions to the House.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s really concerning because we can only guess at what perspectives are being shared. And it sounds like the reasoning is that, hey, the state attorneys handle all of the cases and the public defenders only handle a portion so they only need a portion of the raise,\u201d Wayt said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not how the court system works because the state attorneys work the same hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plus, he said the system is under strain on another front: When a public defender can\u2019t handle the case, that client is referred to a list of private attorneys who\u2019ve signed up with the court system.<\/p>\n
But Wayt said that for a felony case, they\u2019re paid just over $900, and those rates haven\u2019t been raised in years.<\/p>\n
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