The Orleans Parish public defender’s office will soon restore services slashed during a budget fiasco in February, partly thanks to recent increases in fees that criminal defendants, traffic violators and seat belt scofflaws pay along with their fines. In an internal email sent last week, Chief Public Defender Derwyn Bunton said he would restart a division of attorneys assigned to conflict cases, usually co-defendants of people the office already represents. That entire division, once 10 lawyers, was eliminated in budget cuts that claimed a third of the office’s staff of lawyers. It will return at half of its previous

Article source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/06/new_orleans_public_defenders_o_1.html

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