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Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > September > 04 > Entry
Piper pipes up on plan to revamp indigent defense
At the urging of Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper, county commissioners agreed today, Sept. 4, to form a committee to oversee a proposed overhaul of the county’s indigent defense system.
Piper told commissioners he felt left out of the process since common pleas judges submitted a controversial plan a month ago that called for two defense attorneys to be assigned to each of the seven judges.
This would save the county $182,428 and cut down on “inefficiency, incompetence and unscrupulous attorneys,” according to Judge Keith Spaeth.
But Piper worried there would be a “rippling effect” in his office, with two part-time defense attorneys assigned to cases he has one prosecutor working on. And he expressed doubt that a counter-proposal being developed by defense attorneys will save the county as much as it could.
Piper said the system isn’t broken, though it could stand to be more efficient.
“I see really good lawyers taking court appointments and I don’t’ know why we’re going to change that,” he said.
Commissioners agreed that a committee should be formed, and directed County Administrator Tim Williams to work with court administrators to form one.
“I don’t know how you could lose with having a panel like that,” said Commission President Charles Furmon.
Here’s what Ohio Public Defender Tim Young thinks of the plan.
What do you think?
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