Joint Committee Committee on Joint Judiciary (02/03/2006)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

COMMITTEE ON JOINT JUDICIARY

Date:	02/03/2006	ATTENDANCE

Time:	07:47 AM to 08:40 AM	Bacon	X
		Boyd
Place:	HCR 0112	Carroll M.
		Clapp
This Meeting was called to order by		Decker	X
	Representative Carroll T.	Dyer
		Gardner
This Report was prepared by		Gordon	X
	Jessika Shipley	Hefley
		Jahn
		Judd	X
		McGihon
		Mitchell
		Shaffer
		Traylor	X
		Witwer
		Carroll T.	X
		Grossman	X
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
Judicial Branch Briefing Office of the State Public Defender Briefing Alternate Defense Counsel Briefing		- - -

07:48 AM

Representative T. Carroll brought the meeting to order. Mary Mullarky, Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court, came to the table to discuss the main priorities of the Judicial Branch for the coming year. The first is the new building being planned to house all of the major agencies that are related to Judicial. The second is a five-year plan for the Judicial Branch. The idea behind the plan is to restore the cuts in the Judicial Branch that were made in the past few years. The plan also looks at a way to fully fund judges in Colorado, as the state has always worked at a deficit of judges. The Chief Justice stressed the importance of adding judges to the Court of Appeals.

07:54 AM

Jerry Marroney, State Court Administrator, discussed the planned mechanism for funding the addition of new judges. He discussed the relationship between the quality of justice in Colorado courts and the number of judges. Mr. Marroney expressed concern about overburdened courts. He directed the committee to page three of the Five Year Resource Plan for the Colorado Judicial Branch (Attachment A), which provides a table detailing the fiscal needs for the Judicial Branch through FY 2010-2011. Mr. Marroney also discussed issues surrounding community corrections and probation supervision.

08:03 AM

David Kaplan, Colorado State Public Defender, provided some background and the mission of the Office of the State Public Defender. Staff counsel is appointed to handle criminal matters for defendants who cannot afford an attorney. Mr. Kaplan discussed some of the efficiencies his office has put into place, include a statewide research intranet and a web-based statistics system.

08:08 AM

Mr. Kaplan stated that there is a crisis in terms of caseload. He discussed some statistics regarding rising numbers of cases and standards for manageable caseloads (Attachment B). He also talked about claims of ineffective assistance of counsel against attorneys in his office. Mr. Kaplan discussed the fact that the large caseload contributes to a very high (17%) attrition rate in his office.

08:26 AM

Mr. Kaplan responded to questions from the committee regarding the resources of the office and the use of those resources.

08:29 AM

Bryan Shaha, Director of the Office of Alternate Defense Counsel, discussed the responsibilities of the Office of Alternate Defense Counsel. They provide legal representation in criminal cases for indigent defendants, when there is a conflict of interest with the State Public Defender's office. Mr. Shaha discussed the rates charged by the Office of Alternate Defense Counsel and his desire to increase those rates incrementally.

08:37 AM

Mr. Shaha discussed problem whereby he cannot hire retired public defenders for more than 110 days per year because it will cause a problem with the PERA benefits of those retired state employees. He stated that retired public defenders are excellent criminal defense attorneys and he would use them as a resource if the PERA conflict is corrected.

08:39 AM

Representative T. Carroll adjourned the joint committee.