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YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
Report No. 2004-94
December 17, 2004
The following problems were discovered as a result of an audit conducted by our office of the Public Defender Commission.
Applications for public defender services were not always completed by clients and the indigency determination was not always supported by commission guidelines. In five cases reviewed, applications for public defender serves were not completed as required by state law. In three applications reviewed, the documented information, such as assets and income, did not appear to support the indigency determination when applying the PDC guidelines.
The OSPD did not request to withdraw from cases when appointed by the court. In seven cases reviewed, public defenders were appointed by the court to represent individuals before applications for services were completed. In two of these cases an application was not completed after the appointment; therefore, a determination of indigency was not performed. Based on the information in the applications for the remaining five cases, these individuals did not appear eligible for public defender services. In January 2004, the OSPD began tracking cases where judges appoint public defenders. In one judicial circuit, OSPD records indicate judges appointed 16 percent of the cases. State law provides that the public defender must first determine eligibility. By not withdrawing from cases appointed by the court for individuals that are not indigent, the OSPD is using state resources to represent clients that are not eligible. This increases the workload that must be handled by each attorney.
During the years ended June 30, 2004, 2003, and 2002, costs of over $1.4 million, $1.1 million, and $800,000, respectively, were recovered from defendants who were represented by public defenders. This resulted in an average recovery of approximately $16, $13, and $10 per case, respectively.
State law requires a lien to be sought in every case where the court system routinely grants them. Liens were not filed or promissory notes sought for 13 of 64 cases reviewed which had been disposed of at the time of our review. Additionally, seven of 48 liens reviewed were filed for an amount different than the fee schedule adopted by the Public Defender Commission (PDC). Failure to seek liens or promissory notes in accordance with the PDC fee schedule results in lost revenue and non-compliance with state law and PDC policy.
Formal written minutes were not prepared for closed session commission meetings and the Commission Chairperson did not sign meeting minutes.
