With the proposed “money saving” change to the public defender operation in Clallam County, I am not totally surprised (“Clallam Public Defender Offers New Contract With County,” PDN, Oct. 27).
What I see in this state is an attitude of, “Since you have been charged with a crime, you must be guilty, and if you are guilty, why spend money on a lost cause?”
Not having the funds to hire an attorney is not illegal; it is judicial suicide.
Resorting to a public defender is only slightly better.
A federal judge in Whatcom County found that some indigent defendants got as little as one hour with their court appointed defender before going to trial.
His conclusion was that there was too little funding for public defense.
Do we want to make being low-income a de facto crime?
Because it will become so if we cheapen our public defender more than it already is.
We should look at ways to fund it to a higher level and expect a better outcome.
A large part of the problem in this state is the attitude of the general population.
If someone is charged with a crime, the “innocent until proven guilty” does not get off the ground, and they are made to appear guilty by the treatment they get and the public statements made about them.
It takes a good attorney to beat that, and they cost more than a public defender.
Our judicial system is portrayed as very fair, and it may have been — or might still be for some — but overall, it has a lot of weaknesses that saving money won’t help.
Let Commissioners Bill Peach and Randy Johnson look in other directions to save money.
Robert W. Wilson,
Port Angeles