Advocacy
TFDP works in the in the legislature, before state agencies, and with local officials to improve indigent defense practices in Texas.
The Texas Legislature
TFDP supported a number of bills that passed the Texas Legislature during the 2007 session and that will improve the delivery of indigent defense services in Texas:
-
HB 1178 will help protect the rights of indigent defendants by eliminating practices that tend to pressure defendants into giving up their right to a lawyer in the absence of a knowing and voluntary waiver of the constitutional right to counsel. A conference paper designed to assist local officials in implementation of HB 1178 is available here.
-
HB 1265 increases by 50 percent the amount of money provided by the state for the delivery of indigent defense services.
-
SB 168 eliminates the scheduled 2007 sunset of the State Bar legal services fee, which generates approximately $2 million annually for public defense demonstration and pilot programs such as new public defender programs.
For a complete update on indigent defense-related legislation in the 80th Legislative Session (2007) click here.
Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense
TFDP appears before the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense and participates in Task Force-convened stakeholder working groups that propose regulations and model practices for possible adoption by the Task Force.
Recent Task Force accomplishments include:
-
Awarding grants to fund new public defender programs in Bowie County (misdemeanors and non-capital felonies) and in an 85-county region in West Texas anchored in Lubbock (the West Texas Regional Public Defender for Capital Murder Cases). The West Texas office will provide trial-level representation to individuals facing the death penalty in the 85-county region beginning in January 2008. TFDP Executive Director Andrea Marsh is a member of the West Texas office‘s Oversight Board.
-
Publishing sample court procedures and flow charts to assist officials in implementation of HB 1178.
-
Adopting new rules governing the operation of contract defender programs.
State Bar of Texas Committee on the Provision of Legal Services to the Poor in Criminal Matters
TFDP works with this committee, which is charged with studying Texas‘s indigent defense system and developing recommendations related to the delivery of quality representation to poor people accused of crime.
Recent committee accomplishments include:
-
Developing Guidelines and Standards for Texas Capital Counsel, which set forth minimum requirements for delivering indigent defense services in death penalty cases and performance guidelines for lawyers representing defendants in death penalty cases. The Guidelines and Standards for Texas Capital Counsel were adopted by the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors on April 21, 2006.
Local Officials
TFDP visits local jurisdictions in Texas and documents their indigent defense procedures. Upon request, TFDP will formally evaluate local indigent defense practices and work with local officials to improve the delivery of indigent defense services.
