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Show Wednesday, September 18, 1996 The Park Record A-3 County re-examines public defender's job by Kirsta H. Bleyle OF THE RECORD STAFF The two-year contract for Summit County's Public Defender is up for renewal this year, but questions regarding how many defenders to hire and how much to pay them remains to be settled. By law, the county must provide a public defender for anyone unable to pay his, or her, legal costs and, according to Summit County Auditor Blake Frazier, that bill is likely to top $146,000 in 1996. According to Summit County Clerk Kent Jones, he has received many inquiries as to when the request for bids on the office of the public defender will be published. Jones told the Summit County Board of Commissioners on Monday, Sept. 16 the bid announcement will go out on Oct. 1. Once the bids have been collected, col-lected, they will be opened by the commissioners and considered based on the lowest bid. They do, however, have the prerogative to choose the most able candidate over the lowest bidder. Currently the contract to defend the indigent of Summit County is held by Park City Attorney Morna Rouse. Rouse, who maintains some clients through her independent practice, submitted a bid for the public defender position in the fall of 1994. At that time there were no other bid applications, and Rouse was awarded the two-year contract, con-tract, guaranteeing her $35,000 per year. But $35,000 is not enough to effectively run the county's public defense, said Frazier. Frazier told the Park Record that last year's bill totalled $115,662, almost $75,000 over the amount budgeted for Rouse's salary. Because Rouse works alone, her caseload is often full and she is not able to take on some cases. According to Summit County Attorney Bob Adkins, there are two attorneys who bid on the position posi-tion of "back-up" public defender. When Rouse is not able to take a case, the client is passed on to the other attorneys. Additionally, over $4,200 was spent in 1995 because clients wanted to change their lawyers. There is growing sentiment, however, that the public defender's office should not continue to be chosen through the bidding process. The argument often revolves around the lowest bidder being "bargain-basement defense," thus providing a possible future dismissal of a case based on inadequate representation by defense counsel. For example, in the case of James Louis Holland, two convictions convic-tions of murder and two death sentences sen-tences were overturned by the Utah State Supreme Court based on ineffective counsel. Holland, convicted of murdering another man at Echo Junction in 1987, was represented in both trials by Elliot Levine. After the second reversal, the Utah Supreme Court appointed appoint-ed Bruce Savage to handle future proceedings. Rouse is one person who is concerned con-cerned the bid process is not the best way to choose the public defender. She feels the amount of the bid offered by attorneys does not adequately cover the potential caseload. "I absolutely believe the bid situation sit-uation is not the way to go," Rouse said, adding there are some nation al defense organizations looking at the process to determine if it is an effective way to choose the public defender. Rouse has pointed out that, as Summit County continues to grow , so do the number of criminal crim-inal cases facing the public defender's defend-er's office. And with the growing number of cases comes more and more money being spent on providing legally mandated representation for those who can not hire their own attorneys. According to Frazier, the amount budgeted for 1996 expenditures for public defense has jumped from last year's budget of $100,000 to $146,000. Frazier said the $146,000 includes Rouse's $35,000 salary, plus about $8,000 for an assistant and supplies. From the numbers, however, it is evident there is too much work for only one attorney. Adkins agreed there is a good deal of overflow over-flow casework for the public defender, and said the possibility of soliciting bids for two primary public defenders might be considered consid-ered for this year. Even if two defenders are taken on, Rouse contends that "something's "some-thing's got to change." Rouse said most attorneys work with a "team" that includes an investigator and paralegal. The bid submitted by an attorney for the position of public pub-lic defender does not include these two team members. Rouse said she preferred not to comment on whether she intends to re-submit a bid when her contract con-tract is up in December, and Jones intends to publicize the bid announcement in more law journals jour-nals and publications than two years ago. "Hopefully this year," Jones said, "we'll get a wider range of bids." Pet of the week ' Jr & 4 !rV - n iif' ipiiipiiiiii Attention sportsmen!! The Summit County Animal Shelter is not just lap dogs and family pets. This week's pet is a three-month-old male. Walker Coon Hound Puppy who's ready to get to work. Once you let him out of his kennel, he puts his nose to the ground and off you go. The shelter shel-ter is also housing a young adult, male black-and-tan hound who's currently available for adoption. Also at the shelter is a neutered male who is great with children, a female German wirehaired pointer, and a terriermix all available immediately. immedi-ately. And for all those puppy lovers, you have your choice of male or female six-week-old LabBordercollie mix puppies. But act quickly, as there is only one of each. If pedigrees and AKC papers are more your thing, there is a purebred, three-year-old male basset hound and a one-year-old female Saint Bernard available from the Friends as well. All of these pets have current vaccinations. If you are able to provide a loving home for any of these animals, please call Nancy at 649-5441 for adoption information. The shelter is located three miles east of Wanship at the intersection of S.R. 32 and HoytsvUle Road. Shelter hours are Monday-Friday, Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday from 10:00 am to 3:30 p.m., or call 649-5449 for more information. Free Utah Voters Guide available The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is now offering a free Utah Voters Guide. This special election guide focuses on key issues and allows Utah voters vot-ers to learn the positions of candidates candi-dates for the House of Representatives in Congressional Districts 1, 2 and 3. In this non-partisan guide, candidates can-didates were asked to respond to questions on AARP's priority issues pertaining to Medicare, Social Security, tax reform, long-term long-term care and campaign finance reform. Utah AARP volunteer State VOTE Coordinator, Karl Swan, is working to help educate voters on the candidates' positions. Swan says "As election day nears, we want to educate voters and encourage peo ple to vote. We think it's important for Utah residents to know the candidates' can-didates' positions before voters cast their ballots and that's why we are offering a free voters guide." Single copies of the Utah Voters Guide are available free of charge by writing: AARP Utah State Office, 6975 Union Park Center, Suite 320, Midvale, Utah 84047, or by calling 561-1037. 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