HOUSTON -- A board of judges overseeing criminal courts in Harris County has implemented major changes to the way judges appoint lawyers for those who cannot afford one on their own.
The reforms come two months after KHOU-TV revealed dozens of examples of court-appointed attorneys in Harris County, piling up case loads far in excess of well-recognized national guidelines.
County officials, such as District Court Clerk Loren Jackson, say the coming changes could very well keep the innocent from being wrongly convicted and sent to prison.
“Do I think sometimes there are folks who are innocent of crimes who are convicted wrongly? Absolutely,” Jackson said. “This is a great stopgap.”
For instance, KHOU-TV discovered many examples like attorney Jerome Godinich, who exceeded national guidelines in both standard felony court cases and capital murder cases, widely recognized as the most time-intensive kind of case to defend.
Godinich did not respond to our repeated requests for comment on the coming reforms in Harris County.
However, in May of this year, he responded to the original KHOU story regarding court appointments, saying in a statement that, “I have never accepted a case and not devoted adequate time, resources, and expert review.”
Judicial experts KHOU interviewed said one reason local attorneys could pile up so many cases was because Harris County judges had no easy way to check on how many cases an attorney was handling from court to court.
“It raises all kinds of risks,” said law professor Norm Leftstein.
He used to run the public defender’s office in Washington D.C.
“I regard it as among the most flawed systems of a major metropolitan area in the country,” Lefstein said last May.
Veteran Harris County Judge Mike McSpadden has his own concerns and says caseloads in criminal courts continue to spike.
“No matter what you hear from law enforcement or the mayor’s office, crime is going up,” he said. “Our dockets are becoming unmanageable.”
That’s one reason why McSpadden helped lead the way for a solution. He suggested to his colleagues on the bench in Harris County that they push for a way to use existing computer data to allow them to see an attorney’s caseload before they’re appointed to a new case.
“Based upon your story, we all got together because we were concerned that someone would get overloaded and not be able to do the proper job,” McSpadden said. “I think your piece did a world of good down here.”
As a result, that new computer system for judges went online last week in Harris County. It tells judges the number of cases each lawyer is handling and who might be appointed to a capital case.
The change was approved by Harris County judges at the last Criminal Board meeting.
Consequently, the Administrative Office of the District Courts has informed all District Court Coordinators that they can now use something called the Fair Defense Act Management System. It will access a calculation of the case load for each lawyer based on felony and misdemeanor records in Harris County at the end of the previous day.
The Fair Defense Act was passed in order to ensure the courts take actions that ensure a fair defense and competent lawyers for anyone who cannot afford one on their own.
For now, the system only works for potential appointments dealing with capital murder cases.
However, District Clerk Jackson is working with multiple county agencies to expand that system so it will apply to all criminal court cases in Harris County, whether they involve an appointment for a felony or a misdemeanor case.
“We’re making history,” Jackson said, stressing it is a team effort that could not be accomplished without the full cooperation of multiple stakeholders in the judicial system. “This is really something that’s going to be for the betterment of the entire community.”
Jackson said he expects the expanded system to avoid any bureaucratic red-tape in deployment due to the widespread support from so many entities who he says recognize its immediate need.
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