New Mexico lawyers stop accepting new court-appointed defense work over funding shortfall

By Nate Raymond

Nov 5 (Reuters) - More than 50 private attorneys and contractors in New Mexico announced on Wednesday that they will stop taking new cases where they would represent federal defendants who cannot afford their own lawyers, citing a funding crisis that has left them unpaid since early July.

In a letter to the chief federal judge in New Mexico, the lawyers said the funding crisis means they cannot take on additional cases while ensuring effective representation for their current clients "consistent with our professional and ethical obligations."

It appeared to mark the first time that court-appointed attorneys for indigent defendants have collectively decided to cease accepting new cases as a result of a funding shortfall that has been exacerbated by the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.

The attorneys are among the roughly 12,000 private lawyers across the county who serve on court-managed panels that provide counsel to defendants who cannot afford to hire attorneys when federal public defenders are unavailable to represent them.

The program that compensates these lawyers under the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) ran out of money on July 3, and the shutdown - now in its 36th day, making it the longest in history - has resulted in Congress not authorizing any new funding.

The letter was sent by New Mexico's CJA panel representative, attorney Ryan Villa, who in an interview estimated that its signatories include about 40 of the roughly 100 lawyers who serve on his district's panel.

Contractors who are also paid out of CJA funding, which covers the costs of expert witnesses, interpreters and other service providers, also signed the letter.

Their decision will reduce the number of lawyers available to represent New Mexico's federal defendants who cannot afford their own lawyers. Nationally, CJA lawyers handle about 40% of such cases, while federal public defenders handle the rest, the judiciary says.

A depleted pool of available lawyers to take cases could pose a threat to the court's ability to meet its obligations to provide representation to indigent criminal defendants as guaranteed by the U.S. Supreme Court in its landmark 1963 ruling Gideon v. Wainwright and ensure they receive a speedy trial.

In their letter, the lawyers emphasized that their decision was not directly tied to the government shutdown.

Once the shutdown ends, the judiciary will be able to access newly appropriated funds to make the long-delayed payments they are owed. But the lawyers noted that under pending spending legislation in Congress, the CJA program would again likely run out of money next year.

They sent the letter to Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Kenneth Gonzales in New Mexico and said they "remain open to discussion with you and the rest of the judiciary about how we can resolve this and make Congress fully fund the CJA."

Gonzales in a statement said it is "critically important that funding for Defender Services be fully restored as soon as possible so criminal cases, including criminal cases brought in district courts along the Southwest Border, can proceed in an orderly manner."

About 85% of lawyers who serve on CJA panels are sole practitioners or work for small firms, according to the judiciary, and in some districts, such attorneys have either begun declining cases or expressing concern about whether they can continue to perform already-discounted defense work.

While in some districts lawyers have on an individual basis stopped taking on new cases, Wednesday's letter announced that dozens of lawyers in New Mexico would do so en masse.

Read more:

US government shutdown worsens financial woes for court-appointed defense lawyers