The bedrock of the Texas criminal justice system, especially in how it treats poor people accused of a crime, was strengthened Jan. 1, when the Fair Defense Act went into effect.

The new law improves the quality of legal counsel for poor people by setting up rules for how a court appoints them an attorney. Most judges, like the ones in Angelina County, do not abuse their discretion by "playing favorites" when appointing counsel, but the law should further ensure that indigent criminal suspects get a lawyer as quickly and fairly as possible.

On a practical level, following the new law should insulate counties from legal claims that officials never appointed a poor suspect an attorney. Nacogdoches County is currently defending itself in such a case.

Perhaps the most significant change, according to judges and attorneys in Angelina County, is the requirement that judges use a "rotation system" to appoint attorneys. Unless a county adopts another system that meets the law's standards, judges must select for a poor person a lawyer from among the first five names on a list of attorneys who have signed up to be appointed.

The new system should ensure that defense attorneys maintain their independence from judges and do not become overly reliant on them for their livelihoods. Also, the prior practice of appointing attorneys waiting "hat in hand" discouraged more experienced attorneys from participating in the indigent defense system, said Bill Beardall, director of the non-profit Equal Justice Center in Austin, who campaigned for the Legislature's approval of the law.

The law also requires counties to adopt standards that court-appointed lawyers must meet; gives judges in counties the size of Angelina four days to appoint an attorney; and requires attorneys to meet with their client within 24 hours of appointment.

Angelina's two state district judges, David Wilson and Paul White, and some defense attorneys complain that the new law's requirements have slowed the wheels of justice in the county's courts, actually delaying the appointment of lawyers for poor people and creating more paperwork. There may have been problems in other parts of the state, but the prior indigent defense system was working well in Angelina, they say.

After reading a Daily News story about some of the concerns, Beardall said there are some misconceptions about how the law will work. For example, he said there is nothing in the law that prevents attorneys from meeting with their clients on the day they are appointed to a case.

Also, Beardall said there is no reason that Angelina County, if it properly complies with the law, could not qualify for state grants to help pay court-appointed attorneys. A task force that will develop criteria for the grants will hold its first meeting Feb. 21, with the first grants awarded by August.

Angelina officials, who last year spent more than $100,000 on indigent defense, need to adopt policies and procedures that will enable them to qualify for some of the almost $20 million available.

The genius of the American criminal justice system is that it is based on law, and not the whims of judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys. It is far from a perfect system, but the basis on set laws, rules and procedures, like the new Texas Fair Defense Act, should, in most instances, gives the public confidence that courts dispense equal justice for all.