Carbon County officials are working with three local law firms to finalize an agreement for a public defender system. Current public defender David Allred is retiring after providing indigent defense legal services for 25 years, prompting a request for proposals to fill the need.
Two bids were received and opened during the January 17 meeting of the Carbon County Commission. One proposal was from a consortium that includes the Torgerson, Oliver & Sitterud, and Blackburn Law Offices, and the other was from Attorney Mark H. Tanner. The bids were acknowledged and taken under advisement.
During the regular meeting of Feb 7, the Commission stopped short of awarding a bid outright, but approved a motion to enter into negotiations with a three-attorney group to provide the legal services, while seeking a grant from the Utah Indigent Defense Commission (IDC) to help fund the services. The services would be provided for the Seventh District Judicial Court, Juvenile Court, and Carbon County Justice Court case appointments.
After a motion was made by Commissioner Jake Mellor to enter into negotiations to finalize a contract with the three-attorney group, Commissioner Jae Potter suggested amending to the motion. He said, “The other item that I believe you would consider adding or amending to, would be to work in regards to the grant with the indigent defense fund, because what you’re asking is significantly more than what is in our budget.”
The IDC was created in 2016 to help counties fund indigent defense services and help ensure the constitutionally-guaranteed representation by an attorney. Prior to that, the responsibility of providing an attorney to indigents fell exclusively to the counties.
The offer from the law offices proposes to service the caseload David Allred previously handled for the monthly rate of $14,000. The proposal would increase the public defender budget by $8,400 per month and increase the per case rate for district court matters from approximately $130 per case to approximately $345 per case.
The proposal emphasizes that amount is below the national guidelines and is well below the average for other counties in the Seventh District. It also promises a more constitutional and effective defense for Carbon County’s indigent defendants.
County officials are pressed for time to finalize an agreement. Deputy County Attorney Christian Bryner reminded the commissioners, “Since our public defender intends to leave no later than the last day of February, we need to make it a priority.”
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