CHARLOTTE, Mich. — Eaton County officials say, because of some policy changes at the state level, they are able to help more people who can't afford to hire a lawyer of their own.
For years people who couldn't afford an attorney in Eaton County were given court-appointed lawyers, but the problem was that the county was only paying the attorneys $40 an hour, which is at the low end of the pay scale.
It made it tough for people to get a good defense.
However about 10 years ago, the American Bar Association took a look at how these cases were being handled and coordinated some changes at the state level to bring the quality of legal care up to the same standard as the prosecutor's offices.
In Eaton County, the change is evident.
"We changed our grant model with the state from an administrator's office to a fully-staffed office. That changed in June of 2021," said Timothy Havis.
Havis is the lead public defender with the Eaton County Public Defender's Office.
Before he got his new role, he was the administrator, which meant a judge would assign a case, and he'd work to find an attorney in the area to take the case on.
Now, he has 11 lawyers on staff, investigators, a social worker and administrative staff.
"We probably handle well over two thousand cases. Those can be minor traffic cases to more serious cases such as murder," said Havis.
Havis says having to come before the court can be intimidating for many people, but his team works hard to make that process easier for the people they represent.
Now that the full team is operating in a physical office, things are ramping up.
"We're finally getting to the point where we can take care of these backlog of cases. I understand that other areas in the county court system are backlogged as well. Our volume and numbers were down during COVID because less people were coming into the system, but now we're starting to get up to pre-COVID levels," said Havis.
Havis says each case that comes before the court is investigated by his team to find out if the defendant is eligible to be represented by his office.
If you'd like to learn more about the Eaton County Public Defender's Office, we have a linkhere.
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