Governor appointed to represent poor defendant wins reprieve, appoints new members of PD commission
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon appointed three new members to the commission that oversees the state’s public defender system a day after a judge ruled he does not have to represent an indigent defendant.
Nixon made the appointments on Friday to the seven-member board that has the authority to hire and fire the official who appointed Nixon to represent a poor defendant in an assault case, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The vacancies had been open for years, according to Missouri Times.
Michael Barrett, director of the Missouri State Public Defender, had appointed Nixon to represent an assault defendant earlier this month in a letter noting the governor had blocked budget increases for the agency.
A judge in Cole County, Missouri, ruled last week that Barrett didn’t have the authority to appoint Nixon or other private counsel to represent criminal defendants absent approval by a judge, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in a separate story. Barrett had cited a state law that allowed him to appoint any member of the bar in extraordinary circumstances.
Nixon called Barrett’s action a “publicity stunt” and said he hopes his board appointments will return the public defender commission “to its focus of providing proper legal representation to indigent Missourians.”
Commission chairman Riley Bock countered in a news release that he hoped Nixon’s “renewed interest in the system” will not end with the appointments.
Barrett told the News Tribune in a story published on Sunday that he was focusing on oral arguments scheduled for Tuesday in his lawsuit challenging Nixon’s decision to withhold $3.5 million from a $4.5 million budget increase for the agency.
Hat tip to the Marshall Project.
Missing word in second paragraph corrected on Sept. 1.
