INDIANAPOLIS — A growing attorney shortage across the state is impacting public safety.
On Monday, WRTV Investigates told you how it’s affecting prosecutors across the state and their ability to get justice.
WRTV Investigates is now moving to the other side of the courtroom — to the accused and the public defenders who represent them.
If you're accused of a crime and you can't afford a lawyer, the court appoints a public defender at taxpayer expense. But WRTV Investigates found the state has a major shortage of lawyers willing to do that type of work which greatly impacts the criminal justice system.
Accused waiting in jail for trial as public defenders juggle cases
Corey Hoskins has been locked up inside the Marion County jail since June on pending robbery and battery charges.
"It’s hard, it’s hard on my family," Hoskins said.
He’s twice requested a fast and speedy trial within 70 days, however his public defender could not honor his request in part because the public defender’s office is so short staffed.
"I have a brand-new daughter born on August 3," Hoskins said. "I just want to get home to her and I want the courts to hear my case. I feel like once they see my case, I’m going home."
Hoskins’ court-appointed public defender Lucy Frick said it wasn’t fair to Hoskins to go to trial in 70 days.
"He’s facing quite a bit of time (behind bars)," Frick said. "I knew it would not be ethical to go to trial on his case that quickly. Eventually I will be ready, but when he was asking for it, I just wasn’t ready to go that quickly."
For Frick, the wheels of justice are moving at a snail’s pace.
"I am slow," Frick said. "I'm constantly telling clients it is going to be hard to reach me because I’m always in court or at the jail."
At times, Frick isn’t able to visit her clients in person because of time constraints.
"Sometimes we are stretched so thin that all i have time for that day is a 15-minute video visit," Frick said.
She’s juggling 55 cases at the moment, and many of her colleagues have even more.
"It is awful," Frick said. “You are bending over backwards to do work you care about and you just can't be effective when you have too many clients."
Frick said Hoskins’ case is taking months longer than it should.
It’s frustrating for people accused of crimes, like Hoskins.
"She’s swamped with so many cases," Hoskins said. "A public defender is like an avenger, an angel. But they can’t get around to your case basically and fight for you like they want to."
Hoskins said others in the Marion County jail are also impacted by the public defender shortage.
"A lot of innocent people in here sitting until they’re heard," Hoskins said. "They lose everything. They lose their family. They lose houses. They lose cars. They lose everything they work for."
Marion County short 35 public defenders
Marion County has 150 public defenders, but the top public defender said the office should have 185 attorneys to be fully staffed.
“We have cases backing up, caseloads are piling up," Chief Public Defender Bob Hill said. "It becomes a vicious cycle of people quitting, caseloads going up, delay in getting cases resolved, cases stacking up for the people behind."
Hill said even public defenders handling the most dangerous crimes — homicides, sex offenses, and robberies — are overwhelmed with cases.
"I talked to a lawyer this week who indicated they have 70 active major felony cases, which is way too many," said Hill.
The irony is Marion County is one of only three counties in the state that technically has enough lawyers to serve its population.
While Marion County has a lot of attorneys, most of them don’t want to work in public defense.
"We have a new job posting up for attorneys all the time," Hill said.
"We tend to lose talented folks," Hill said. "It’s been a real problem for us. Money is always the solution."
The number of attorneys coming out of Indiana law schools has been on the decline.
In 2017, Indiana had five law schools:
- IU McKinney in Indianapolis;
- IU Maurer in Bloomington;
- Notre Dame in South Bend;
- Valparaiso University in Valparaiso; and
- Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne.
In 2017, 756 students graduated from Indiana law schools. Four years later, that number dropped to 599.
Indiana Tech closed its law school in June 2017.
Valparaiso closed in 2020, which according to a report by the Indiana Public Defender Commission, eliminated a school that trained 18% of the attorneys practicing in Indiana.
Why attorneys are leaving public defense
JP Roman Lagunas left the Marion County Public Defender’s Office in 2013.
He now works for an Indianapolis law firm, Keffer Hirschauer LLP, doing private criminal defense.
“Opportunity and money, that was it," said Roman Lagunas as to why he left public defense work. "I was married and I had a kid on the way."
WRTV Investigates asked if he’s more comfortable financially now that he’s in private practice.
"Oh yeah, I’m significantly more comfortable than I was," said Roman Lagunas. “Several times over. I also have four children. I would be in dire straits if i was still doing public service."
The typical law school graduate carries $130,000 in education debt.
Megan Schueler is one of two public defenders in Owen County.
“Right now I think I pay $400 a month in student loans," Schueler said.
She’s currently working on contract, which means she has to pay for her own insurance, benefits and retirement.
Plus, the job is stressful.
"I always feel bad because it's just me on my cases," Schueler said. "I've got clients in jail who are calling me all the time who are leaving me messages. Increasingly not happy messages because they don't know that I'm doing stuff on their case."
Counties lean on other counties for public defenders
Some counties are so short staffed, they’re using attorneys from other counties to fill the gaps.
In Knox County, Chief Public Defender Bryan Jewell just found out he’s losing another public defender at the end of 2023.
"I’ll be crippled," Jewell said. "Every time the clients go to court, they’ve got a new lawyer. Just because of the turnover rate around here. It’s been very bad for the last year and a half."
The loss will bring Knox County to 12 public defenders who are all on contract — which means they aren’t county employees.
Knox County has attorneys in Fishers and Fort Wayne doing public defender work for Knox County.
"The people who aren't in town, it's tough," Jewell said. “We have to pay them an hourly rate, $100 an hour. With all the lawyers we have right now doing all these cases, it's a huge expense."
Vanderburgh County is short four public defenders, so they had to distribute 200 cases to attorneys across the state, with the help of the state Public Defender of Indiana.
Stacy Uliana took five of those cases from Vanderburgh County.
Uliana is a private defense attorney in Bargersville, 2.5 hours away from Vanderburgh County.
"Everyone deserves fairness," Uliana said. "Everyone deserves a good attorney whether they can afford it or not."
She has never met any of her clients from Vanderburgh County.
"Not face to face," said Uliana. "It's not ideal."
Uliana talks to her clients over the computer.
"I think they're all just happy to have an attorney now and happy to have their case moving," said Uliana.
Dozens of defendants in Vanderburgh County, who are innocent until proven guilty, spent weeks in jail with no one representing them.
"Your life stops while you're waiting for an attorney,” said Uliana. “I think there's a real concern. The criminal justice system can't handle the numbers it's consuming."
Jail overcrowding and mistakes among impacts of shortage
Attorneys and others in the criminal justice system say the attorney shortage is contributing to jail overcrowding, because it’s taking longer to get cases resolved.
It can even lead to mistakes, including people wrongfully charged and convicted.
“Witnesses not being interviewed, evidence not being captured and preserved,” said Bernice Corley, executive director at the Indiana Public Defender Council. “We are in serious risk in various communities of the criminal justice system coming to a grind, a halt or a collapse. That collapse will be felt by individual people like complaining witnesses, and their cases aren’t being resolved and they’re going on and that trauma is being drawn out.”
Corley has been raising concerns for years about the lawyer shortage in Indiana.
"It's just a train running without a conducting careening out of control," Corley said.
Pro Se: Clients representing themselves
WRTV Investigates found the number of people representing themselves in court, also known as pro se litigants, has been on the rise since COVID.
PRO SE LITIGANTS IN INDIANA
(includes criminal and civil)
- 2022: 150,272
- 2021: 147,731
- 2020: 137,683
“That is really frightening,” said Corley. “People have a right to counsel. They have a right to due process and equal treatment under law.”
WRTV Investigates also spoke with several judges who told us they have to take more time with people who represent themselves, which exacerbates the backlog.
Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Mary Ellen Diekhoff said she’s seen an increase in people willing to represent themselves.
“I try to tell people that's not a good idea," Diekhoff said. "You are charged with a crime and this has consequences.”
Court of Appeals Judge Melissa May said some people just get frustrated with the criminal justice system and choose to represent themselves.
“Sometimes they’re self-represented by choice, other times they don’t know what to do," May said. "Those people who don’t know how the legal system work, tend to make it slower. So, the judges have to take more time with them."
Judge May wants the state to look at ways to alleviate the attorney shortage.
“It slows down the judge’s ability to give justice,” said Judge May.
Defendants say attorneys hard to find in Indiana
We talked with Erik Zahursky who was living at a homeless shelter in Fort Wayne.
"The more laws there are, the more criminals there are,” said Zahursky.
Zahursky just got out of prison and needs a lawyer to help modify a supervision requirement in his sentence, but says he can’t find an attorney willing to do the work.
“It’s frustrating,” said Zahursky. “I’ve been looking since I got out, so it’s been six months.”
While you have the right to a public defender if you’re indigent and accused of a crime, that right does not apply if you’re seeking a sentence modification like Zahursky.
The state’s growing attorney shortage means finding legal help when you need it is getting even more difficult.
Solutions to attorney shortage
Attorneys are urging county councils and state lawmakers to provide more funding to fix the attorney shortage.
This past legislative session, several bills that would have addressed the attorney shortage failed to advance including House Bill 1605 which would have provided retirement benefits to public defenders.
Another proposal would have allowed the state to reimburse counties for defending misdemeanor cases, which make up the bulk of criminal cases. However, both efforts failed.
WRTV Investigates took concerns to state lawmakers, law schools and other stakeholders across the state.
Wednesday at 6 pm, we’ll hear what their solutions are to the state’s attorney shortage.
