Dakota County panel to help those who can't afford a lawyer

Every day, people charged with crimes in Dakota County find that they make too much to qualify for a public defender -- but not enough to afford legal representation.

Many of them head to court on their own and, quite often, they don't fare as well as they would with an attorney. Some find themselves pleading guilty because it simply becomes too difficult to fight the state.

Now, from a group of attorneys in Dakota County comes an alternative: a panel that will initially give free advice during arraignments and then provide continuing services to low-income clients at reduced rates.

Dakota County judges on Friday approved the new service during a bench meeting.

"We're going ahead with it but have to work out the timing of the implementation and some other details," said Chief Judge Edward Lynch.

He appointed three judges to work with attorneys on the effort.

"It's been a long time coming," said Conor Tobin, an Eagan attorney who helped create the Dakota County panel. He serves on a similar panel in Ramsey County.

Under the Dakota County plan, participating lawyers will volunteer their services on arraignment day and stay available to any low-income person charged with a crime who has not hired a private attorney or has not qualified for a state-paid public defender.

"The goal is to reach the people who make too much to qualify for the public defender but realistically can't afford to hire a lawyer," said Liz Reppe, manager of the Dakota County Law Library and a coordinator of the year-long effort.

The nuts and bolts of the new defense panel are still being formed, including what the cutoff income will be. It might be lower for those charged with misdemeanors than for felony crimes, Tobin said.

With the recession, it seems more people are unable to afford legal representation, Tobin and Reppe said.

Dakota County judges had for months supported the creation of the service in principle but turned to the Minnesota Board on Judicial Standards to ask whether it was appropriate to implement the program. The judges were cautious, not wanting to appear as if they were endorsing certain lawyers.

The board advised that the brochures could specify that the panel consists of private criminal defense attorneys and that the "district court may not and does not endorse, refer or recommend the program or any specific lawyer or law firm to any court participant."

A call to action

Reppe hopes the panel can start operating in April or May.

A year ago, she helped get the ball rolling by coordinating a group of attorneys and a law clerk to discuss the idea. In her job managing the law library in Hastings, Reppe finds herself regularly pulling out thick reference books for criminal defendants trying to represent themselves. The texts and their terminology, and even basic court procedures, can be daunting for the average person not versed in law.

Still, those who don't qualify for a public defender often try to represent themselves rather than shell out thousands of dollars to a lawyer.

A proposal to the judges by Reppe and the other supporters of the new panel said, in part: "For those facing criminal charges, the legal process can be confusing and scary. Many defendants make important decisions without ever consulting an attorney."