NATCHEZ, Miss. – County supervisors have agreed to pay public defense attorneys for their recent work amid a squabble between Adams County’s two circuit judges about who they should appoint to represent indigent clients.
At Monday’s meeting of the county board, Judges Lillie Blackmon Sanders and Debra Blackwell displayed their disagreements in full view of the supervisors.
Blackwell indicated she’s being pressured to appoint Sanders’ daughter and sister as public defenders.
“It’s my courtroom, and I’m not going to let Judge Sanders or anyone else force me to appoint someone I don’t want to appoint,” Blackwell told the supervisors.
In explaining why she won’t appoint Sanders’ relatives, Blackwell said she seeks the best-qualified attorneys.
Sanders – as Adams County’s longest-serving Circuit Court judge — holds seniority status, but the anti-nepotism law doesn’t allow her to appoint daughter Aisha Sanders and sister Lydia Blackmon as county public defense lawyers.
They’re among the seven local attorneys listed to be public defenders, and Sanders is counting on Blackwell to appoint them while Sanders tapped others to represent defendants in her courtroom, said county board President Angela Hutchins.
Sanders said Blackwell is being too uncompromising. “She wants to be able to do whatever she wants to do,” Sanders said of her fellow jurist.
As Judges Sanders and Blackwell displayed their disagreement during the county board meeting, supervisors stressed they’re trying to ensure the county fairly pays attorneys working for people accused of crimes but can’t afford their own attorneys.
“I know the problems between the judges,” said Supervisor Warren Gaines, but the focus should be on efforts to “get the defendants better represented.”
After hearing the two judges air out their conflicts Monday, the five supervisors agreed to pay public defenders for their recent work.
The supervisors in February had questioned the amount they were ordered by the court to pay the lawyers for representing clients the past two months, so the judges lowered the compensation to fit the $270,000 annual budget the board previously set for them, said county board attorney Scott Slover.
Adams County public defenders are each paid about $3,000 a month.
Local attorneys in private practice are randomly tapped by the judges to represent criminal defendants, but the Board of Supervisors last year voted to establish a formal county office of public defenders with five lawyers. Sanders appointed Jeffrey Harness to be the chief public defense attorney with him selecting the four other attorneys. However, that plan got derailed amid questions about whether it’s legal for Harness to hire Blackmon and Aisha Sanders as two of the attorneys.
The public defenders office is intended to have lawyers more focused on criminal-defense practice to ensure accused criminals’ rights to effective legal representation are secured.
In addition to Sanders and Blackmon, Harness had selected Natchez attorneys Tim Blalock and Zach Jex to staff the public defenders office.
Comments