Wisconsin’s public defense system is straining at the seams after a bipartisan bill meant to beef up court staffing stalled out in the state Senate, leaving Milwaukee in particular out in the cold.
“Our attorneys are drowning,” State Public Defender Jennifer Bias said Tuesday, a warning echoed by Deputy State Public Defender Bridget Krause. With the bill sidelined, planned hires, including assistant public defenders and support staff that had been tagged for Milwaukee County, are stuck in limbo while case backlogs keep climbing.
In a March 17 release, the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office warned that the Justice for All Act (AB 514/SB 546) had been left off the Senate calendar for the final floor period of the session and accused lawmakers of having “cut short a lifeline for Wisconsin’s overburdened public defense system,” Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office said. The agency noted that the package would have been its largest staffing request since 2009 and warned that, without new positions, courts and county jails will keep shouldering the cost of slow-moving cases. Advocates and defense leaders say the crunch has been years in the making and has only gotten worse with rising charges and an avalanche of digital evidence that drags out case preparation.
What the Justice for All Act Would Have Done
The Justice for All Act was drafted to add more than 100 court-related positions over two biennia. The plan called for phased increases in prosecutors, judges and staff in the State Public Defender’s Office to tackle bottlenecks across Wisconsin. The State Bar’s Wisconsin Lawyer detailed the proposed position authority, including new circuit court branches in some of the most backlogged counties. Sponsors said the goal was straightforward: cut delays that have left felony cases dragging far beyond pre-pandemic timelines.
Milwaukee Cut From The Plan
The Assembly did pass the bill in February, but only after an amendment stripped out four assistant public defender positions and six public defender support roles that had been designated for Milwaukee County. Local defense leaders call that move indefensible, given Milwaukee’s caseload.
State Sen. LaTonya Johnson said she was told the Milwaukee jobs were removed because some Republican senators bristled at criticism from the Milwaukee-area public defender’s office, as reported by Wisconsin Public Radio. Defense advocates argue that cutting those slots undercuts the very areas where the workload is heaviest.
Backlog, Jails and Lawsuits
Deputy State Public Defender Bridget Krause told PBS Wisconsin that defendants can sit in jail for months while their cases stall because there is no lawyer available to take them. When counsel is missing, she said, evidence can disappear, memories fade and justice, for victims as well as defendants, gets pushed further out of reach.
Data from the Wisconsin Court System shows felony cases took nearly eight months on average to wind their way through the courts last year. Plaintiffs’ attorneys and local journalists have documented long waits for public defender appointments and a 2022 class action lawsuit in Brown County that claims those delays violate defendants’ constitutional rights, FOX6 Milwaukee reported.
What’s Next
Rep. David Steffen, the bill’s sponsor, said he is still pushing to get the positions folded into the next state budget. With the Senate wrapping up its regular work for the session, legislators will now have to wait for the biennial budget process to consider the request.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu did not respond to a question from Wisconsin Public Radio about why the bill never came up for a vote. For Milwaukee public defenders and the people they represent, the stalled measure, and the extra wait that comes with it, means the fight for more staff is shifting from the Senate floor to the back-and-forth of budget talks.
