Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense - first meeting February 21, 2002

The new Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense held its first meeting on February 21. The Task Force on Indigent Defense (TFID) is the commission created by the Fair Defense Act (1) to monitor compliance with the new law; (2) to administer incentive grants of state funding to counties for improvement of indigent defense; and (3) to develop further standards and policies for ongoing improvement of indigent defense procedures in Texas. The meeting was attended by an audience of about 50 people.

The meeting consisted partly of presentations designed to orient the TFID member to the task ahead and partly of organizational matters.

The Task Force heard a presentation from Bob Spangenberg, one of the nation’s leading experts on indigent defense. Mr. Spangenberg characterized the Texas Fair Defense Act as "the single most important legislation on indigent defense enacted by any state in the last 25 years." Spangenberg emphasized several points, including:

(1) A lot of hard and serious work by Task Force members will be required if the Task Force is to be successful;

(2) Part of what makes the task of the TFID especially challenging is the fact that Texas is trying to reform practices in 254 different counties at one time

(3) The makeup of the TFID gives the judiciary stronger influence within this commission than in most state commissions - a characteristic that can serve as a strength or weakness, depending on the vision with which that influence is exercised.

(4) There are successful indigent defense commissions in a number of other states from which the TFID can draw guidance;

(5) There are committed public interest groups in Texas whose work can be helpful to the Task Force;

(6) The most important thing is that the TFID establish an approach of sure and steady incremental progress which will continue over the long term.

The Task Force also heard a presentation by Tony Fabelo, Director of the Texas Criminal Justice Policy Council. Mr. Fabelo, like Mr. Spangenberg, told the Task Force that improving indigent defense in Texas will require continuous long term effort by the TFID. Fabelo laid out a strategic plan for implementing those improvements:

(1) The short term goals, for the 2002-2003 biennium, should be to implement the basic standards and reporting requirements in the Act and to establish the infrastructure for evaluating local compliance with the minimum requirements of the law;

(2) The TFID’s intermediate term goals, for the 2003-2004 biennium, should be to develop operational performance standards to judge the real effectiveness of indigent defense services and to begin evaluating actual performance.

(3) The long term goals, for 2005 and beyond, should be to recommend and implement further policies, standards and funding aimed at increasing the quality of public defense in Texas. Mr. Fabelo emphasized that the Task Force should start by committing itself to a vision of persistent work on upgrading indigent defense in Texas, consisting of incremental work over at least five legislative sessions.

The organizational matters taken up by the TFID included the following:

(1) Sharon Keller, Presiding Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, was named to chair the TFID.

(2) Jerry Benedict, Director of the Office of Court Administration, was authorized to interview candidates for the position of Task Force Director and to hire a Director before the next Task Force meeting. A committee of Task Force members will be designated to work with Benedict on selecting a Director. Mr. Benedict indicated that the OCA had received approximately 40 applications since posting the position and that he had narrowed the field to a proposed short list of 5 candidates.

(3) Benedict was also authorized to begin the process for hiring additional staff to work with the Task Force Director.

(4) Benedict announced that OCA staff and volunteers were using a checklist to determine whether each county’s initial indigent defense plan contains the basic elements required under the Fair Defense Act. Those results were expected to be presented at the next Task Force meeting.

(5) The next Task Force meeting was scheduled for March 21, 2002 at 10:30am, in Austin.