Plaintiffs William Cox and Edward Paulus both filed a lawsuit last Friday in federal court against the state of Utah and Washington County. The two men accused the state and county of falling short in providing an adequate and constitutionally-obligated right to an attorney.
According to Fox 13, Cox and Paulus are seeking to make it a class-action lawsuit against Utah and Washington. They alleged that the state and county are not sufficiently paying, preparing and training attorneys who are assigned to those accused not having enough money to afford getting a lawyer. Thus, it shows that the public defender system is currently broken, and that it leads to the violation of an accused's constitutional rights of being provided a lawyer by the state.
To elaborate further, the attorneys are said to be working overtime while getting underpaid. They do not receive proper support as well to defend their clients, said The Salt Lake Tribune. The meaningful administrative supervision and technical assistance are also missing that makes lawyers unable to perform their function effectively.
"[The county] enters into fixed-price contracts with local attorneys to provide indigent defense services to those charged with criminal wrongdoing in the district court," the lawsuit stated. It added that the contracts are designed and processed in such a way that hampers the capability of lawyers in providing constitutionally sufficient legal representation to their clients.
Ogden-based attorney Michael Studebaker filed the lawsuit for Cox and Paulus. Cox is accused of working as a broker or agent without license as well as facing a third-degree felony. Edward Paulus, on the other, is charged with first-degree felony aggravated sexual abuse, The Spectrum reported.
It was further claimed that Washington County officials did not renew the contract of Paulus' lawyer, which remains open just a month before his case supposedly goes to trial. Moreover, the county is allegedly forcing and pressuring another lawyer to take on several contracts in the meantime.
As for Washington County Administrator Dean Cox, he has not seen the federal lawsuit and thus could not make any comment specifically about the accusations. Meanwhile, the Utah State shared that its legislature will address the issue of right to counsel.
